Speculation over Royal visit

Sources say visit to Magee campus has been cancelled

A visit by the Prince of Wales to the University of Ulster's Magee Campus in Londonderry on Monday has been cancelled, according to university sources.

Prince Charles: Speculation over visit

There is speculation it has been called off because of fears it would be seen as insensitive in view of the Bloody Sunday Inquiry.

The inquiry, which is being held at the Guildhall in Londonderry, is investigating events when British paratroopers opened fire on a banned civil rights procession in the city's Bogside area in 1972, killing 14 people.

Prince Charles is Colonel in Chief of the Parachute Regiment.

For security reasons visits by members of the Royal Family are not normally announced in advance and a Northern Ireland Office spokesman refused to be drawn on whether the Prince is due in the province next week.

On Tuesday Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Mandelson hosts the annual garden party at Hillsborough Castle, at which it is normal for a member of the Royal Family to be present.

Ulster Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson said any decision to cancel a visit to Londonderry by the Prince would be seen as a snub to the unionist people there.

He said: "When you consider a convicted IRA man has been elected as the Mayor of Londonderry without any regard to the sensitivities of the unionist community in that city, then if the reports are true that Prince Charles was due to visit Londonderry and it has been cancelled because of nationalist sensibilities - it shows how absurd this whole situation has become.

"A decision to cancel a royal visit to Londonderry will be seen as a snub by the Northern Ireland Office to the unionist community of the city."