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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Esther Addley

Diana apparently believed Northern Ireland part of the Republic, archive shows

Smiling Princess Diana interacts with the crowd in Belfast
Princess Diana visiting Belfast, Northern Ireland, in June 1992. She showed an ‘obvious ignorance of or disregard for constitutional niceties’, the Irish ambassador to the UK said in 1993. Photograph: Tim Graham/Getty Images

Diana, Princess of Wales, showed “obvious ignorance of or disregard for” the constitutional position of Northern Ireland, apparently believing it to be part of the Republic of Ireland, according to a note written by the Irish ambassador to Britain in 1993.

The late princess, at the time still married to Prince Charles, had referred to Northern Ireland as part of Ireland in a conversation with the ambassador, Joseph Small, he wrote in a briefing note to Ireland’s then-president, Mary Robinson.

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