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World News

Prince William to honour WWI Catholics and Protestants who fought together

The Duke of Cambridge is going to join Irish premier Enda Kenny in Flanders for the centenary commemoration of the Battle of Messines.

The joint UK-Irish tribute will focus on the Island of Ireland Peace Park. It was built in 1998 in memory of the sacrifice of all Irishmen who fought and died in the conflict.

The Battle of Messines on 7th June 1917 marked both a successful Allied offensive and the first time the 36th Ulster and 16th Irish divisions fought alongside one another in the front line. It was one of two occasions where they battled together.

Erwin Ureel/PA Wire

The two units predominantly comprised of men with opposing views over whether Ireland should receive self-governance from London.

The Allied causalities in the Battle of Messines reached approximately 10,000, while Germany suffered around 25,000. The 36th and 16th divisions experienced approximately 2,500 killed, injured or missing.

After attending to Island of Ireland Peace Park - opened the same year of the Good Friday peace agreement - the Duke and Mr Kenny will visit Wytschaete Cemetery where many of those who died were laid to rest.

A new memorial was erected at the entrance the site last week. It depicts the attempted battlefield rescue of fatally wounded 56 year old nationalist Home Rule MP Willie Redmond by a unionist private John Meeke - a scene thought by many to encapsulate the legacy of the day Irish Protestant and Catholic soldiers fought alongside one another.

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