Cancer-stricken King Charles will be feeling fresh heartache after a former IRA commander confessed to being behind the bomb plot which killed his beloved great-uncle Dickie, it has been revealed today.
Royal experts said the monarch will be feeling 'great distress' after Michael Hayes boasted that he designed the explosive device that killed Lord Mountbatten, and masterminded the atrocity.
Lord Mountbatten – a mentor to both Prince Philip and the then Prince Charles – was murdered aged 79 when the IRA blew up his pleasure boat during a holiday at his summer home in Co Sligo, on the west coast of the Republic of Ireland, in August 1979.
Only one member of the IRA was ever convicted of the atrocity. Thomas McMahon was arrested on the day of the blast and jailed for life but later released under the Good Friday Agreement.
But this weekend when approached by a MoS reporter, Hayes bragged: 'I blew up Earl Mountbatten.'
'It is tremendously hurtful to the King and it will bring back memories; but what is appalling is it is so brazen,' royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams said.
Michael Hayes (pictured) callously boasted that he designed the explosive device that killed Lord Mountbatten, and masterminded the atrocity
Hayes (pictured) said that he did not regret killing Lord Mountbatten and coldly described the two teenage boys who died as 'casualties of war'
Lord Mountbatten – a mentor to both Prince Philip and the then Prince Charles – who was murdered aged 79
He described Lord Mountbatten as a 'pivotal' figure in Charles' early life, adding: 'It is quite extraordinary that somebody can boast in that way as tactlessly and as carelessly as this and think they can get away with it.'
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EXCLUSIVE I masterminded the plot to blow up Lord Mountbatten: Ex-IRA commander sensationally confesses to being behind the assassination of King Charles's beloved great-uncle who was murdered aged 79 during a holiday at his summer home in Ireland
The 1979 bombing also killed Lord Mountbatten's grandson Nicholas, 14, Nicholas' grandmother Doreen Brabourne, 83, and crewman Paul Maxwell, 15, of Enniskillen.
Legal experts this weekend told the MoS that Hayes's admission made him liable for prosecution for the murders, if the Irish police and Director of Public Prosecution decided to pursue him.
The Irish Garda told MailOnline: 'An Garda Síochána does not comment on named persons.'
Speaking to a reporter, Hayes said that he did not regret killing Lord Mountbatten.
Mr Fitzwilliams said that despite the pain and anguish Hayes' comments will have brought up, the King would want to focus on the progress the monarchy has helped Ireland's peace process to achieve.
He said: 'This will be something that causes Charles much distress. But he is putting his energy so far as his doctors allow, into things that are positive.
Mr Fitzwilliams said that despite the pain and anguish Hayes' comments will have brought up, the King would want to focus on the progress the monarchy has helped Ireland's peace process to achieve (Pictured: King Charles and Lord Mountbatten in 1979)
'There is no doubt that the Queen's legacy, her state visit to Ireland in 2011, was a major stepping stone.
'The royal family has played a very, very significant role - and of course Prince Charles has too - in the peace process and following on to the role played by the Good Friday Agreement.
'The King has played a very, very significant role in the reconciliation process.
'What we've seen in this interview is something that would make any decent person appalled. The King at this particular time, his thoughts will be obvious when he sees this.
'But the royal family, most particularly the Queen but also the Prince of wales have played such a major role in cementing the peace process. There are always ups and downs following any historic arrangement.'
As Buckingham Palace declined to comment, Ian Paisley Jr, the Democratic Unionist Party MP for North Antrim in Ulster, called for the Garda Síochána, the police service in the Republic of Ireland, to 'immediately' investigate Hayes.
'The sensational, shocking and blood-curdling statement by a self-confessed, cold-blooded murderer ought to be immediately investigated by the police and the man brought to justice,' he said.
Queen Elizabeth II pictured chatting with Lord Louis Mountbatten at the Guards Polo Club on June 1 1975
The IRA blew up Mountbatten's pleasure boat during a holiday at his summer home in Co Sligo, on the west coast of the Republic of Ireland. Pictured: The wreckage after the explosion
Legal experts this weekend told the MoS that Hayes's admission made him liable for prosecution for the murders. Pictured: Part of the wreakage of Lord Mountbattens boat the Shadow V, circa August 1979
The brutal killing of Lord Mountbatten, who was affectionately known as 'Uncle Dickie' by the Royal Family, affected Charles deeply. In his diary, the 31-year old Prince of Wales wrote of 'agony, disbelief, a kind of wretched numbness'. But in 2015 Charles showed forgiveness, shaking hands with Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams after travelling to Ireland to see where Mountbatten died.
Hayes, a grandfather who lives alone in Dublin, was previously named as one of four men behind the 1974 IRA Birmingham bombings and has taken what he called 'collective responsibility' for all of the IRA's actions in England.
But he has never before linked himself to the murder of Lord Mountbatten and the other victims who died when a remote-controlled 50lb bomb ripped through the hull of the Shadow V. Speaking to a MoS reporter, Hayes revealed that he was McMahon's 'commanding officer'. He said: 'Tom McMahon, he was only a participant. I am an explosives expert, I am renowned. I was trained in Libya. I trained there as an explosives expert.'
Asked if he was saying that he was the man who designed the bomb, he boasted: 'Yes, I blew him up. McMahon put it on his boat ... I planned everything, I am commander in chief. '
Hayes has never before linked himself to the murder of Lord Mountbatten and the other victims who died when a remote-controlled 50lb bomb ripped through the hull of the Shadow V. Pictured: Debris of the boat following the blast
The brutal killing of Lord Mountbatten (pictured), who was affectionately known as 'Uncle Dickie' by the Royal Family, affected Charles deeply
Prince Charles is pictured with Lord Louis Mountbatten at a polo match holding pint of beer
Earl Mountbatten's coffin is carried during his funeral following his death at the age of 79
An alleged IRA accomplice, Francis McGirl, was also arrested on the day of the attack but he was later acquitted. He died in a farming accident in 1995.
Hayes confirmed to the MoS that he was also in County Sligo at the time of the bombing, adding: 'Francis McGirl made a b
