A royal man and the sea

It was a moment he had waited for for over three decades. On a coll May afternoon, the Prince of Wales stood at the harbour of Muallghmore in County Sligo to watch the waves which in 1979 had carried his beloved great uncle, Lord Louis Mountbatten, to his death. On that August day, another boat had rushed between the harbour walls he stared at bringing the Earl's body back to shore after his boat was blown up by an IRA bomb and he was killed along with three others. His loss had a profound effect on Charles. And during this royal visit to Mullaghmore he spent some moments lost in thought at the spot, just the man and his memories as the sea roared on.

The Prince of Wales at the former home of Lord Mountbatten, Classiebawn Castle, which he visited with Camilla and Timothy Knatchbull who survived the bomb blast which killed Louis Mountbatten

The whole day had been one of reflection for Charles but the moment where he paused to see the spot where his 'honorary grandfather' had been brought ashore in the aftermath of the bomb blast was surely the most poingnant. Earlier, the prince had said the loss of Louis Mountbatten had 'helped me understand Ireland's agonies'.

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The day had begun at a service of reconciliation at Drumcliffe where Charles and Camilla had sat near the parents of Paul Maxwell, a local boy who was also killed in the bomb blast. Two more people lost their lives that day - Lord Mountbatten's grandson, Nicholas Knatchbull, and his grandmother, the Dowager Lady Brabourne. Afterwards Paul's father, John Maxwell, said he had found the service 'uplifting'. During the reflective event there was a reading by the former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, who in 2011 had welcomed the Queen to the Republic of Ireland for the historic state visit. She later praised the visit by the Prince of Wales and said that 'the words he has spoken and the relationships he has created' would help strengthen the relationship between Ireland and the UK. And Charles also met Bethany McLaughlin who had sung in the choir at the service and whose grandfather, Gerard McKinney, was killed by British soldiers on Bloody Sunday in 1972. This part of his visit ended with the prince planting an oak tree and bowing his head in reflection as prayers were said.

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 Charles looked reflective throughout the whole day which, after a stop at Classiebawn Castle in Sligo where Lord Mountbatten had lived, took him to the shores of Mullaghmore where his great uncle had died. He met many villagers as well as some of those who helped with the recovery and rescue thirty six years ago.

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But it was the brief moments that Charles spent at the harbour that will linger longest in the memory. He only watched those waves for a matter of seconds but they were heavy with memories and with a sadness that he has already voiced during his visit. Charles was a young prince when he lost his uncle and now he is the older heir to the throne Britain has ever known. But for those few moments he was just a man alone with the sea and all that that brought with it.