Warm cross-community welcome for the surprise Royal visitor

Portaferry, on the tip of the Ards Peninsula, is mostly nationalist but there was a warm welcome for the Royal visitor.

Joe Boyle, the SDLP councillor, said: “It was a great day. Portaferry is probably the most welcoming place you could get.”

placeholder image — Roisin Lennon, left, and Grainne Lennon with her son Stephen Traynor, 2, from Portaferry, outside the Presbyterian Church while Prince Charles was attending a service inside

Among those waiting outside during the service were Roisin Lennon, her daughter Grainne and grandson Stephen Traynor, aged two, who saw the Prince going in.

“It was lovely to see him,” said Roisin. “That is why we are waiting here to see him again when he comes out.”

The Prince took time talking to people as he left. A GAA club gave him a hurley stick.

Neil McClure, of the Friends of Portaferry Presbyterian Church who welcomed the Prince, said: “It was at the end of a service that was very much a service for everyone.”