LAST UPDATE | 24 May 2023

A SENIOR PSNI detective who survived an attempted murder bid earlier this year has made his first public appearance since the incident at a garden party at Hillsborough Castle with Britain’s King and Queen.

Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell was shot several times at a sports centre in Co Tyrone in February.

He had been putting footballs into a car with his young son after coaching a youth sports team when he was targeted.

Caldwell, who was critically ill for some time at Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry, was left with life-changing injuries.

This is his first public appearance since the attack.

It is understood that he had a private audience with King Charles III ahead of the event.

Charles and Camilla arrived at Hazelbank Park in Co Antrim to cheers from waiting members of the public this afternoon.

The king and queen were welcomed by the Lord-Lieutenant of Co Antrim David McCorkell, mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey Stephen Ross and North Belfast MP John Finucane (Sinn Féin).

They were serenaded by school children and took some time to chat with the youngsters before officially opening the gates to the Coronation Garden.

The king and queen open a new Coronation Garden in Newtownabbey Mark Marlow / PA Images Mark Marlow / PA Images / PA Images

Garden designer Diarmuid Gavin accompanied Charles and Camilla, introducing them to those who have spent recent months working to realise his “whimsical” design, which includes music, moving plants and bubbles.

He said his team had been working around the clock in recent months to prepare the garden, and described his inspiration as “whimsy” to mark the coronation as well as engaging with people of all ages.

“They were wonderful – I got to spend a little bit of time with them, we went into the quiet garden with the water dancing and they were asking me where the plants came from, the idea behind the design, and they couldn’t have been nicer,” he said.

Charles and Camilla were told the special garden in honour of their coronation marks the beginning of a new green initiative for Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council.

The king smiled as Bring Me Sunshine played, while Camilla described the garden as not what she had expected, but complimented it as “absolutely lovely”.

Following the garden visit, the king and queen went on to Hillsborough Castle in Co Down, the royal residence in Northern Ireland.

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They met with pupils from a local primary school who have taken part in a competition to design coronation benches.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla meet pupils from Belfast’s Blythefield Primary School who have taken part in Historic Royal Palaces’ competition to design Coronation benches at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down PA Images PA Images

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris hosted a brief private audience with the king and queen, before they attended a garden party and planted a tree within the grounds of the castle to mark the coronation.

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson was among those in attendance at Hillsborough.

Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O’Neill did not attend the event.

However she said representatives from the party will be present at events during the two-day visit.

“Yes, I think there’s a whole raft of engagements and some of our MPs will be at local events in their constituencies,” she told reporters after a meeting with the secretary of state at Hillsborough castle earlier today.