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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
National
Shaun Keenan

When Derry man Paddy 'Bogside' Doherty met new King Charles III

Not many Derry men can say that they've met a King of England.

But that's exactly what Paddy Doherty, known as Paddy 'Bogside', did when he met the now King Charles III three decades ago in 1993, during a period of severe instability in Northern Ireland.

Mr Doherty was among the most prominent figures to emerge in the city during and after the Civil Rights Movement and the Troubles.

Read more: King Charles in Belfast LIVE: Updates as King Charles III visits Hillsborough on Northern Ireland tour

On meeting with the then Prince of Wales, Mr Doherty, who was chairman of the Inner City Trust, showed the new King the work being done by the local trust to restore and regenerate much of the bomb-damaged and derelict city centre.

Pictured above alongside the new UK Head of state, Mr Doherty, who was also known to some as 'King of the Bogside', can be seen walking down Magazine Street, on the fringes of the Bogside and near the Castle Gate on the famous Derry Walls.

In 2010, Paddy Doherty was granted an Honorary Degree at the University of Ulster in 2010 at the Millenium Forum in the city centre.

King Charles III and his Derry friend, the late Paddy Doherty in 1993 (Trevor McBride)

His work with the Irish Foundation for Human Development in the city led to the establishment of the Derry Youth and Community Workshop and the North West Centre for Learning and Development.

He was also a founder of the Derry Credit Union and Derry Citizens Defence Association, which was set up in 1969 during the battle of the Bogside.

Sadly, Mr Doherty passed away in 2016 at the age of 89. He was survived by his wife Eileen and 12 children.

Speaking at the time of his funeral, Fr Paul Farren said: "Paddy was completely committed to the common good, to this city and to society.

"He had a massive vision and he had a unique way of making that vision real and everybody benefited as a result."

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