THE Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall visited soldiers and families of Worcestershire’s Mercian Regiment in Northern Ireland yesterday.

The Prince and Duchess flew in to George Best Belfast City Airport before meeting soldiers and families of the 2nd Battalion, The Mercian Regiment (Worcesters and Foresters) at their base in Palace Barracks, near Belfast.

Prince Charles is Colonel in Chief of the regiment and it was his second visit to the base. The royal couple were welcomed to the base by commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Colin Marks.

During his visit, Prince Charles attended a briefing at Battalion Headquarters and visited soldiers attending a career development event.

He was also given the chance to discuss with soldiers their programme of pre-deployment training in preparation for their fourth tour of Afghanistan later this year.

Meanwhile, the Duchess visited some of the civilian staff who work on the base supporting the battalion and also visited the community centre to meet day care and pre-school groups.

The couple also accepted an invitation to join officers for a formal photograph and then went on to meet soldiers, wives and families in the nearby sergeants’ mess before Prince Charles presented several long service and good conduct medals to soldiers.