The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall joined relatives of the British victims of 9/11 at a ceremony to mark the 10th anniversary of the attacks. He spoke of his feelings when Lord Mountbatten was killed by terrorists.
Prince Charles said the families’ loved ones were “cruelly, brutally and pointlessly torn from them” when “so much premeditated death and destruction” came out of the skies above New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania on September 11 2001.
He spoke movingly of his strong emotions after his great-uncle, Lord Louis Mountbatten, was murdered by an IRA bomb while sailing his boat off the coast of County Sligo in Ireland in 1979.
“At the time, I remember feeling intense anger, even hatred, of those who could even contemplate doing such a thing,” he told those attending the ceremony.
“But then I began to reflect that all the greatest wisdom that has come down to us over the ages speaks of the overriding need to break the law of cause and effect and somehow to find the strength to search for a more positive way of overcoming the evil in men’s hearts.”
The Prince admitted this was “far easier said than done” but said many people were tired of and bewildered by the “perpetual killing, maiming and senseless terrorism that blights the human family”. He added the “dreadful act of violence” of 9/11 was intended to divide the world but had actually drawn people together, “one person to another, one community to another”.
At the moving ceremony, Prince Charles said: “I find there are many of us who are not only tired of perpetual killing maiming and senseless terrorism that blights the human family but bewildered by it too, simply because our instinct tells us that seeking revenge actually does not achieve peace in the end.
“It is surely only by avoiding vengefulness that we can rebuild what has been lost and save it from being lost again.
“I recall that president Abraham Lincoln once spoke very powerfully of having wasted valuable hours imagining revenge or confusion.
“He spoke of the practical importance of a forgiving spirit, to dissipate anger and resentment. I cannot help feeling he was right.”
Other dignitaries who attended the service included David Cameron, the Prime Minister; his deputy, Nick Clegg; Labour’s leader Ed Miliband; the US ambassador, Louis Susman; Dame Judi Dench, the actress; and London’s mayor, Boris Johnson.
About 30 families who lost loved ones in the terrorist atrocities attended the remembrance service at the September 11 memorial garden next to the embassy.
In what has become a tradition on every anniversary, the bereaved relatives read out the names of the 67 British victims of the attacks and laid a white rose for each of them.
The memorial garden is dedicated to the memory of those killed when fanatical extremists used hijacked passenger jets to strike at the US on September 11 2001.
Opened by the Princess Royal in 2003, it contains a small pavilion bearing three bronze plaques which list the names of victims from the UK, UK Overseas Territories and those with dual nationalities.
There is also a memorial stone bearing American author Henry Van Dyke’s poem For Katrina’s Sun-Dial, beginning “Time is too slow for those who wait”, which was read at the first memorial service for those killed in 9/11 at Westminster Abbey in November 2001.
The September 11 UK Families Support Group, which represents the bereaved relatives, invited the Prince and Camilla to attend the ceremony because of their close links with the royal couple.
Shortly before the service, a group of Muslim protesters attempted to disrupt the day by burning a US flag and chanting with a loudhailer.
They were opposed by a rival group of moderate Muslims who were determined that extremist voices were not the only ones heard.
Earlier some families attended a special service at St Paul’s Cathedral in London to remember the nearly 3,000 people who lost their lives in New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania.
The ceremony featured a newly-commissioned anthem based on a message the Queen sent to a memorial service held in New York for British victims nine days after the attacks.
The song, arranged to music by American composer Nico Muhly, is based around the monarch’s words, “Grief is the price we pay for love,” and also includes quotations from psalms.
The Dean of St Paul’s, the Rt Rev Graeme Paul Knowles, said a prayer for the victims of the 9/11 attacks and their loved ones at the service.
“We gather in this cathedral today to remember before God all who died in the atrocities in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania 10 years ago and to pray with those whose lives were changed forever that day,” he said.
“We also remember those innocent people who, in our lifetime, have had their lives taken from them through acts of terrorism in the cities of our world.”
The dean added: “We come as people from many backgrounds to pray for the future security of our world, for a spirit of tolerance and mutual respect, for peace and freedom, for justice and the rule of law, that together we might go forward with confidence and hope.”
The Britons killed in the suicide attacks included bankers, brokers, journalists and computer experts who had gone to work as usual on an apparently unexceptional bright late summer’s day 10 years ago.