Prince Charles to visit Lord Mountbatten murder scene during Irish trip

The Prince of Wales will go to the County Sligo community where his great-uncle was murdered in 1979, as part of a four-day trip to Ireland with the theme of peace and reconciliation

Prince Charles is to visit the area where the IRA murdered his great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten, when he makes an official trip to the Irish Republic.

Lord Mountbatten was killed in an IRA bomb attack on his boat at Mullaghmore, County Sligo, on 27 August 1979.

The prince is to meet members of the community in Mullaghmore during his visit to Ireland from 19-22 May.

It is one of a number of engagements north and south of the Irish border on the theme of peace and reconciliation.

The prince's Irish visit was first announced last month, but his office has now released details of his itinerary.

He follows in the footsteps of the Queen, who made a highly successful state visit to Dublin and Cork in 2011, which was widely viewed as a significant moment in the peace process.

The Prince of Wales will be accompanied by his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall for what will be their first official joint visit to the Republic of Ireland.

They will attend a service of peace and reconciliation at St Columba's Church, in Drumcliffe, County Sligo, and when they travel north of the border on the second half of their trip, they will visit Northern Ireland's oldest peace and reconciliation centre at Corrymeela, County Antrim.

Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was assassinated by the IRA in County Sligo on 27 August 1979

The Royal couple's itinerary also includes visits to a number of cultural and historical sites, including the County Sligo grave of Irish Nobel Prize-winning poet, William Butler Yeats, and the Burren in County Clare.

In Galway, they are due to attend a reception at the National University of Ireland, where a celebration of Irish culture, including crafts, dancing and music, will be staged.

Prince Charles first visited the Republic of Ireland in 1995.

His great-uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten, had been a frequent visitor, spending holidays at the Sligo coast before his murder during the Troubles.

One of the earl's twin grandsons, Nicholas, 14, and a 15-year-old local boy who worked on the boat, Paul Maxwell, also died in the explosion.

The murders took place on the same day that the IRA killed 18 soldiers in Northern Ireland, when their convoy was hit by two booby-trap bomb explosions near Warrenpoint.

The death toll was the worst single loss suffered by the Army throughout the Troubles.