Prince Charles shook hands with Gerry Adams, a top leader of the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (ira) terrorist group yesterday. Adams is accused of authorizing several terrorist attacks and publicly gloated after the ira murdered Earl Mountbatten, along with two children and an 83-year-old widow.

Earl Mountbatten was Prince Charles’s great-uncle and the two were especially close, making yesterday’s meeting in Galway, western Ireland, particularly personal for the prince.

Violence between the Catholic-backed ira terrorists and British authorities has dropped dramatically since a power-sharing deal was reached in Northern Ireland in 1998, but a spate of protests last year showed that there is still plenty of anger simmering below the surface.