The now King of England's visit to Ireland in May 1995 was widely acknowledged to have been an important sign of the warming relations between Ireland and England during the peace process in Northern Ireland.
But while officials on both sides of the Irish Sea were publicly pleased the visit had been a diplomatic success, behind closed doors they were sharing far less diplomatic jokes about still raw revelations within our nearest neighbour's royal family - including predictions Irish officials should soon expect a visit from Princess Diana as she liked to "upstage" the royal family.
The then Prince Charles's two-day visit to Ireland came months before he and Diana, who had officially separated in 1992, were formally given permission to seek a divorce in December 1995.
And with tensions and speculation rife across the water, it was perhaps understandable that some of that atmosphere would drift into Irish officials' private correspondence too.
The discussion continued across other communications with Prince Charles's press team including his press secretary Sandy Henney, who believed the visit was "the best public outing the Prince has had in a very long time", before the subject of ongoing tensions between Charles and Diana was broached.
"Henney (who would have been less aware of the political dimension than the more restrained Percival) told me that if she had any say in it the Prince would be here again before the summer was out.
"She also remarked that if practice to date was any guide we could shortly expect an approach from Princess Diana!", a Department of Foreign Affairs document written by Irish official Joe Hayes read.
The note continued: "I took this as a joke until she repeated it and assured me that in the media battle between the two, the Princess was by far the more predatory and skilled and her staff devoted a great deal of time to finding ways and means of upstaging St James' Palace."
The correspondence highlighted the difficult atmosphere between Charles and Diana's representative teams at the time, and is included in State Papers which also show how while Prince Charles's visit gained attention in Ireland, it led to a "paucity of interest in the British media".
Part of this, the prince's press team explained to Irish officials, was due to "a technical problem at the BBC on the evening of the prince's arrival", although it was also acknowledged that it may also have been due to the wider context of how the monarchy was perceived at the time.
Meanwhile, the same files also give significant detail about the planning for a banquet held in Dublin Castle for Prince Charles hosted by taoiseach John Bruton and his wife Finola Bruton.
During the banquet, Mr Bruton raised a toast to: "Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth and the friendship between our two peoples and countries."
Mr Bruton is often mis-quoted as saying during the banquet that Charles's visit was the "best day of my life", instead he had spoken about the significance of the visit, saying: "Your courage, your innovation and your initiative in coming here has done more in symbolic and psychological terms to sweep away the legacy of fear and suspicion that has lain between our two peoples than any other event in my lifetime."
[Based on document 2025/124/160]
More on the 1995 visit of Prince Charles to Ireland
Prince Charles visits Newgrange
Prince Charles Makes First Royal Visit to Ireland1995
Prince Charms Dubliners
