Delighted well-wishers of all ages turned out in their hundreds to welcome Prince Charles as he began a two-day visit to Belfast yesterday.
The Prince of Wales's first engagement was at Queen's University, where he formally reopened the Great Hall, restored at a cost of £2.5 million sterling.
After meeting the city's Lord Mayor, Cllr Jim Rodgers, the Lord Lieutenant of Belfast, Lady Carswell, and the Assembly's Higher Education Minister, Ms Carmel Hannah, the prince, accompanied by Queen's vice-chancellor Prof George Bain, was shown an arts exhibition in the Black and White Hall.
Prince Charles took particular interest in a number of 19th century political cartoons and a painting of Queen Victoria's visit to the city in 1849, which also had the inscription, "Ceád Mile Fáilte". A Scots Gaelic speaker himself, the Prince remarked on the similarity between the two languages.
On learning that the original plans for the Great Hall by Sir Charles Lanyon had had to be abandoned in the 1840s due to a lack of funds, only to be completed now, Prince Charles said: "I am sure Sir Charles would have been absolutely thrilled to know what's been done to finish off what was left undone. I can well believe how frustrated he must have been to see how much was cut out of his original plans."
After chatting to university staff and students, the prince continued to the Northern Whig Building in Belfast city centre, one of the city's oldest commercial buildings which has recently undergone a £2.7million facelift.
After being met by the Security Minister, Ms Jane Kennedy, and the DUP's North Belfast MP, Mr Nigel Dodds, he mingled with business people and members of the Prison Arts Foundation, who guided him through a display of works of arts by prisoners and ex-prisoners.
The prince delighted well-wishers by taking a sip of Guinness offered to him by a local publican, Ms Anne Diver, on a subsequent walkabout.
Ms Diver said she had been waiting to hand him the pint for almost half-an-hour. "I hope he enjoyed it because it was starting to go flat."
The next to welcome the prince were the 100 or so residents at Clifton House nursing home in north Belfast.
After visiting the Reminiscence Room, he was introduced to Lady Cunningham, the widow of the late president of the Ulster Unionist Party, Sir Josias Cunningham, before joining the residents for a singsong and a game of Boccia.
Ms Elsie Bell, who was visiting a relative at the home, said the prince had "made everybody's day".
On his last engagement for the day, the prince admired a mural of cartoon characters in the Ulster Hospital at Dundonald, painted by members of the Prince's Trust. The trust's 25th anniversary was also celebrated at a dinner at Hillsborough Castle, the Northern Secretary's residence, last night, where the prince was staying overnight. He will carry out further engagements this morning, one at a local cancer charity.