During a visit to Serbia, the British Prince Charles recalled the murder of his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten in a “terrible” bombing by the IRA and called for reconciliation so that “our children and grandchildren do not suffer the same agony”.
On the fourth day of a tour of the region – torn by the Balkan wars of the 1990s that claimed over 130,000 lives – Charles gave a speech in the Serbian Parliament touching on the death of his beloved uncle in a 1979 bomb attack by Irish paramilitary Republicans Army.
“So I feel that, through my own experience, I have at least some understanding of the heartbreaking agony that so many families in this region, regardless of nationality, race or religion, have experienced from the loss of loved ones. He said yesterday.
“But after many years of reflection, and indeed despair, over the senseless cruelty and destruction we are witnessing around the world, my own conclusion is that only reconciliation offers the assurance that our children and grandchildren will not suffer the same anguish like our generation. ” . “
The wars that accompanied the collapse of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s not only killed many thousands, but also displaced millions of people.
To celebrate the themes of peace and reconciliation, Charles, accompanied by his wife Camilla, began their tour in Croatia and will visit Montenegro today before making one last stop in Kosovo.
Your six-day visit coincides with a European crisis over an unprecedented influx of migrants, mostly crossing the Balkans, some feared to re-create tension in the region.
However, the Balkans route has been effectively closed for more than a week, and Charles and Camilla have not visited any refugee centers during their tour.
Camilla met a group caring for victims of war rape in eastern Croatia, while Charles held meetings with religious leaders in Croatia and Serbia.
In Kosovo they will take part in a memorial service for those missing since the 1998-1999 Kosovo war.
In lighter moments of the visit, Charles tried homemade brandy in a Serbian Orthodox monastery and Camilla visited a Croatian stud farm, one of the oldest horse farms in Europe.
The number one in the tennis world, the Serbian Novak Djokovic, sent Camilla a video message on Wednesday when she visited a children’s home in Belgrade supported by his foundation.
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