King Charles will do what it takes to shore up peace in Northern Ireland when he travels to Europe at the end of March, writes KATE MANSEY
- Brexiteers have warned Mr Sunak not to use the King for his own political ends
- The King and Queen Consort will travel to Europe for a new diplomatic mission
When King Charles travels to Europe at the end of March, it will not be the first time he has strayed into the Brexit debate.
In 2020, Charles and Camilla flew to Germany, where the then Prince of Wales delivered an impassioned speech about the ‘enduring connections’ between the two nations.
Coming four years after Britons voted to break away from the EU, it was interpreted in some quarters as a coded sign of Charles’s continued affection for the bloc: a hint, perhaps, that had he been allowed to vote he might have been a Remainer rather than a Brexiteer.
Charles, speaking to the Bundestag, quoted the English poet John Donne who famously wrote that ‘No man is an island’, telling the assembled politicians: ‘One might equally submit that no country is really an island either, other than in the wholly literal sense. Our histories bind us tightly together, and our destinies, although each our own to forge, are interdependent to a considerable degree.’
Some saw parallels with the late Queen’s comments just ahead of the Scottish referendum on independence in 2014, when she said outside Crathie Kirk – the church nearest Balmoral – how she hoped that Scots would ‘think very carefully about the future’.
A MAJOR MISSTEP? Brexiteers have warned Mr Sunak not to use the King for his own political ends
Conservative MPs see it as an overtly political visit – an opportunity to smooth relations that may otherwise be left bristling after the thorny business of thrashing out a deal
Now, the King and Queen Consort will travel to the Continent for a new diplomatic mission – and it appears it will take place after the Government has finalised the tricky issue of the Northern Ireland border in the Brexit negotiations.
Conservative MPs see it as an overtly political visit – an opportunity to smooth relations that may otherwise be left bristling after the thorny business of thrashing out a deal. As far as the King is concerned, it will be deeply personal. He will be acting primarily to preserve our ties to an even closer neighbour – Northern Ireland itself.
Like his late mother, the King is well-versed in the history of Irish politics.
When Lord Mountbatten was killed in an IRA bomb blast in 1979, a bereft Charles described him as ‘the grandfather I never had’.
Today, protecting the peace process is said to be utmost in his mind.
A source close to him said: ‘Northern Ireland matters greatly to the King, who makes a point of visiting every year.
‘If he can bring European allies together to maintain that and solve the Northern Ireland issue after Brexit, then so much the better.’
In June 2012, the Queen made a two-day visit to Northern Ireland that culminated in an historic handshake with former IRA commander Martin McGuinness.
Now the King will continue her work, and is likely to do so with outspoken words as well as deeds.
Unlike the late Queen, who seldom let her personal views be known, the public is already well aware of Charles’s opinions on matters ranging from climate change to religion.
One palace insider described him as ‘a campaigning King’; another, as a ‘convening King’.
As Prince of Wales he reportedly described the Government plan to deport immigrants to Rwanda as ‘appalling’.
And just last week when he marked a year of war in Ukraine, it was clear what his views on arming President Volodymyr Zelensky’s forces were when he said it was ‘heartening’ that the UK and its allies were doing ‘everything possible to help at this most difficult time’.
‘If he brings allies together to solve this, so much the better’