13/12/2005

Charles and Camilla visit Belfast

Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall paid a short visit to Northern Ireland yesterday.

At Belfast's City Hall, Lady Carswell, Lord Lieutenant of Belfast, Lord Mayor Wallace Browne, and the Northern Ireland Secretary of State Peter Hain greeted the Royal couple.

Members of the choir from Strandtown Primary School and the Belfast School of Music's Youth Chorale performed in City Hall for the couple who were making their first visit to Northern Ireland since their marriage.

Mr Browne said: “It was a very relaxed visit. Prince Charles realises City Hall will be celebrating its centenary next year and he’s very interested in architecture.

“It was also marvellous that they found time to visit the market.”

At the reception in Belfast City Hall, their Royal Highnesses met young people who had been helped by the Prince's Trust and toured an exhibition of some of the initiatives and businesses which have benefited from the charity’s support.

The Prince told the audience he was delighted to be visiting Northern Ireland and spoke of the charity’s work there.

His Royal Highness told the 160 guests at the reception that one in eight of all new businesses in Northern Ireland were helped by the Trust's New Business Programme.

He said: “What a real joy it is for both my wife, my darling wife, and I to be here in Belfast just before Christmas.

“From a Northern Ireland perspective 17 per cent of those aged 16 to 25 have no qualifications; there has been a huge increase in truancy and exclusion; and there is a very high rate of suicides among young people, especially since the cessation of the Troubles.”

The Prince described the challenges as huge but said he had been encouraged by the many success stories in the history of the charity.

Last week the Queen and Prince Phillip visited the province.

(SP/MB)

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