Plenty of Royal smiles as Andrew arrives in Ulster
April 18, 2006
Belfast Telegraph - March 17, 2006
Prince Andrew shrugged off the snow as he arrived in Belfast yesterday for a series of official engagements.
The Duke of York spent the day visiting four Ulster companies and meeting with local dignitaries.
First stop of the day was at the offices of Liberty Information Technology (Liberty IT) in Belfast, a subsidiary of Liberty Mutual Group, a global insurance company with its headquarters in Boston.
The Prince met dignitaries including Deputy Lord Mayor Pat Convery, Lady Carswell and the Lord Lieutenant of Belfast, before he was shown around the company.
He heard a presentation by management which explained the functions of the company before taking time to speak to some of Liberty IT’s 190 employees.
They included those employed in the international Underwriter Team who are involved in developing software solutions, for assessing risks of insuring oil rigs as well as teams working on developing programmes for processing vehicle insurance claims.
Next the Prince visited Thales Air Defence in Belfast, which is part of an International defence, aerospace and security firm.
The defence company which has just won a £10m contract to manufacture and assemble anti-tank weapons for the Swedish army.
The Prince learned details of the new contract, which will safeguard 550 jobs.
He also toured the company’s Alanbrook Road complex and met with staff before being presented with a model Starstreak missile.
Later in the day the Prince helped mark the 50th anniversary of the Forensic Science Agency by visiting its headquarters in Seapark in Carrickfergus.
He was informed about DNA science which is currently being used and developed to support crime detection.
The Duke of York saw demonstrations by those involved in fingerprinting, fire investigation, footwear mark identification, high tech crime and road accident investigation.
His last stop of the day was a trip along the coast to Ballymena where he visited the premises of Wright Group coachbuilders, which has just announced an order worth £50m.