Leak sparks scare over Royal visit to Belfast

Press, 3 June 1981, Page 8

Leak sparks scare over Royal visit to Belfast

NZPA-Reuter Belfast A big security exercise was reportedly being mounted in Northern Ireland early today after news of a Royal visit to the province by Princess Alexandra, cousin of the Queen, was leaked to the British press.' The Royal visit comes on

the heels of the surprise visit by the Prime Minister (Mrs Margaret Thatcher) last week. But whereas no-one — including the outlawed Irish Republican Army — knew Mrs Thatcher was in the province until she arrived, news of the Princess's secrecy-shrouded visit was splashed across the front pages of British newspapers yesterday.

Although the Northern Ireland Office and Buckingham Palace refused to confirm that the Princess was about to visit Belfast, press reports said Government and security officials were furious that the trip had been exposed and worried about the Princess's safety in the violence-torn province. The loyalist leader, the Rev. lan Paisley, was

blamed for the leak after he revealed during the weekend that a Royal visitor was going to the province. Mr Paisley, who did not name the Princess, said on a Belfast radio station, that he had decided to call off a planned demonstration outside Belfast Cathedral because he had been told by the police that “a Royal visitor” would attend a con