Irish Leader Addresses Assassination of Prince Philip s Uncle newser.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newser.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The leader of Ireland s Sinn Fein party has today apologised for the 1979 IRA assassination of Prince Philip s uncle Louis Mountbatten.
The IRA, of which Sinn Fein was once the political wing, killed Philip s uncle and mentor to Prince Charles as part of the decades-long conflict waged between Irish republicans and those who wanted Northern Ireland to remain in British hands.
Mary Lou McDonald, now leader of the party, said today that the bomb attack which killed Lord Mountbatten as he holidayed with his family at Classiebawn Castle was heartbreaking and she is sorry it happened .
Her comments came the day after Prince Philip was laid to rest at St George s Chapel in Windsor in front of his wife, Queen Elizabeth II, after his death at the age of 99.
The Globe and Mail Mark Landler
The Canadian Press
Seeking to salve an old wound at a time of sorrow for Britain’s royal family, the political leader of the Irish republican movement apologized Sunday for the 1979 assassination of Louis Mountbatten, an uncle of Prince Philip.
Mary Lou McDonald, the leader of Sinn Fein, which was once the political wing of the underground Irish Republican Army, told a London radio station, “Of course, I am sorry that happened; of course, that is heartbreaking.”
McDonald offered the landmark apology a day after Queen Elizabeth II buried her husband, Philip, in a ceremony at Windsor Castle that paid tribute to his military career. His uncle Lord Mountbatten, a celebrated commander during World War II who later served as the last viceroy of India, overseeing its partition and transition to independence, was killed after a bomb exploded on his fishing boat off the coast of Ireland.