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Can this Troubles-scarred city make peace with Prince Charles?

Prince Charles is viewed very differently by unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland's second city.

Prince Charles talks to a crowd in Bellaghy
Image: Prince Charles talks to the crowd in Bellaghy
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In the city with two names, there are two different views on this royal visit.

Unionists, who call it "Londonderry", warmly welcome the heir to the throne.

But to nationalists, who call it "Derry", he is not "Prince Charles". He is the Colonel in Chief of the Parachute Regiment.

Forty-five years ago, the Regiment shot 14 people dead here. It began with a civil rights march and ended with a day forever labelled "Bloody Sunday".

Prince Charles and wife Camilla arrive at the new centre dedicated to Seamus Heaney
Image: Prince Charles and wife Camilla arrive at the new centre dedicated to Seamus Heaney

In 2010, a 10-year public inquiry found that none of the victims had posed any threat and that paratroopers had fired the first shot and concocted lies afterwards.

David Cameron, then prime minister, apologised on behalf of the British government, describing the shootings on 30 January 1972 as both "unjustified and unjustifiable".

Protests turned violent when His Royal Highness last visited the city 23 years ago.

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Prince Charles shakes hands with Seamus Heaney's brother Hugh
Image: Prince Charles shakes hands with Seamus Heaney's brother Hugh

But Northern Ireland is a different very place now and Derry/Londonderry has been at the forefront of the change.

One of its most famous sons - - went from IRA leader to deputy first minister.

When he welcomed Prince Charles to Belfast in 2015, it was just as significant as his meeting with the Queen in 2012.

It was a handshake between the Colonel in Chief of the Parachute Regiment and the man who had been the IRA's leader on the ground on Bloody Sunday.

Charles and Camilla tour the new Seamus Heaney centre
Image: Charles and Camilla tour the new Seamus Heaney centre

Prince Charles was invited back to officially open a new cancer unit in the hospital where Mr McGuinness died earlier this year.

While some may question whether that was appropriate, others will regard is as a acknowledgement of the former deputy first minister's role in the peace process.

In the city with two names, there are always two different views.