By Deborah McAleese, Press Association

A major joint UK-Irish ceremony took place in Belgium last Wednesday to mark the centenary of a First World War battle where unionist and nationalist soldiers from Ireland fought side by side in the trenches.

The Duke of Cambridge and Irish premier Enda Kenny were at the Island of Ireland Peace Park in Messines in Flanders, to commemorate the first day of the week-long battle.

Prince William and the Taoiseach were joined by Princess Astrid of Belgium and Lord Dunlop, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office to honour the soldiers who fought in the battle.

Also among the invited guests were leader of the Democratic Unionist Party Arlene Foster, Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan and three members of The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Regimental Association: President Jack Dunlop, Treasurer Richard Thompson and Secretary Oliver Breen.

The dignitaries laid wreaths at the foot of the Round Tower memorial, before meeting invited guests including descendants of those who fought at the Battle.

The representatives from the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Regimental Association also laid a wreath.

The successful Allied offensive on June 7, 1917 was the first occasion the 36th Ulster and 16th Irish divisions fought together on the front line.

The two divisions predominantly comprised men who were on opposing sides of the great political upheaval back in Ireland around whether the country should be granted self-governance from Westminster.

The commemoration focused on the Island of Ireland Peace Park at Messines which was built in 1998 - the year of the historic Good Friday peace agreement - to mark the sacrifice of all those Irishmen who fought and died in the war.

A new memorial erected at the entrance of the cemetery last week depicts a scene that many believe encapsulates the legacy of the day Irish Protestant and Catholic soldiers fought together - the attempted battlefield rescue of fatally wounded 56-year-old nationalist Home Rule MP Willie Redmond by a young unionist private, John Meeke.

Prince William and Mr. Kenny paid their respects at the 16th Irish Division Memorial Cross in a private ceremony before meeting family members of servicemen buried in the cemetery.

The capture of Messines Ridge was a key objective of the Allied Forces ahead of their mid-summer 1917 offensive on German lines between the nearby town of Ypres and the small village of Passchendaele - a battle that has since become synonymous with the horrors of trench warfare.

The Allies sustained around 10,000 casualties during the Battle of Messines, the Germans around 25,000. Between them the 36th and 16th lost around 2,500 killed, injured or missing.

The two divisions fought together only twice in the First World War. The second came in a heavy defeat, two months after Messines, during an ill-fated offensive at nearby Langemark in the first weeks of the Battle of Passchendaele.

A spokesman for the Irish government said: “These joint ceremonies are an opportunity to remember all those who took part in the Battle and all those who lost their lives, to reflect on the journey of reconciliation in the century since and to highlight the positive relationship that exists on the island of Ireland and between Ireland and the United Kingdom.”