Prince Charles is meeting Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams today

Prince Charles is meeting Sinn Fein&#039;s Gerry Adams on Tuesday, a first

(Image credit: Getty Images: Chris Jackson/WPA Pool, Oli Scarff)

published 19 May 2015

When Britain's Prince Charles meets with Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams in Galway, Ireland, on Tuesday, it will be one step further past "the Troubles," the decades-long conflict between Irish republicans and unionists, the latter backed by Britain. It will also be the first meeting between Adams and a member of the British royal family, and the first royal visit with Sinn Féin leaders in the Republic of Ireland. Queen Elizabeth broke the ice in 2012, shaking hands with Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness, former IRA chief of staff.

The expected handshake between Adams and Prince Charles, at a reception with some 100 Irish political leaders and guests, "was agreed to promote the process of resolving past injustices and promoting reconciliation and healing," said Sinn Féin party chairman Declan Kearney. But it will also have personal notes for both men.

Charles will visit Mullaghmore, a scenic spot in County Sligo where an IRA bomb killed his great uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten and two teenagers in 1979, an attack Adams said was justifiable at the time. On the other hand, Irish republicans remember that Prince Charles is colonel-in-chief of the British army's Parachute Regiment, which killed Irish civilians in 1971's "Ballymurphy Massacre" in Belfast and 1972's Bloody Sunday in Derry.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.