Princess Diana confirmed “obvious ignorance” round Northern Ireland, sparking fury by describing it as “part of Ireland”, newly declassified paperwork present.
The late Princess of Wales had “disregard” for constitutional niceties, based on a scathing notice from the Irish ambassador in 1993. Diplomat Joseph Small wrote the message for then-Irish President Mary Robinson forward of her historic go to to Buckingham Palace in May that yr.
An irked Mr Small stated the Princess had made the comment following a go to to Northern Ireland the earlier yr. He wrote: “Whenever we meet Prince Charles, he invariably says that he would love to visit Ireland. He is, of course, a regular visit to Northern Ireland (sic). Princess Diana has also been there.
“Early final yr she stated to me, with apparent ignorance of or disregard for constitutional niceties: ‘I used to be in your nation yesterday!”‘ Mrs Robinson’s meeting with the Queen was the first time a serving president of Ireland visited the United Kingdom, and visited the monarch.
The note is among a swathe of documents released to the National Archives in Ireland. It has also emerged that the family of Pat Finucane, a solicitor who was gunned down in Belfast in 1989, were “appalled” by Tony Blair’s “ignorance” as they pushed for a public inquiry into the murder.
Jane Winter of the British-Irish Rights Watch (BIRW) said the former PM was”initially very dismissive of their case” and had at first tried to distance his Government from it. A confidential note written following a meeting with Mr Finucane’s family said: “He (Mr Blair) was additionally badly briefed they usually have been ‘appalled by his ignorance’ of the main points of the case.”