A new book detailing the horrific IRA bomb attack that killed Lord Mountbatten in 1979 has been released by his grandson Tim Knatchbull, who grew up in Mersham.

Now 44, Tim was just 14-years-old when his grandfather’s fishing boat exploded, instantly killing his twin Nicky, his grandfather and 15-year-old ship hand Paul Maxwell.

His parents John and Patricia were injured but survived the blast. His grandmother, Lady Brabourne, was fatally injured and died the following day in hospital.

The former Ashford School pupil, whose Godfather is Prince Charles, said: “Writing the book was a mixture of the toughest mental and emotional work I’ve ever had to do.

“When I was a boy I didn’t have the means of dealing with the dramatic experience of the bomb and the death of my twin brother. It was only later, when I fell deeply in love with my wife and had children that I got a whole new level of security that allowed me to take the risk to go back to the place where all these events happened in 1979.”

From a Clear Blue Sky, follows the father-of-five’s journey revisiting the fateful day of August 27 on the earl’s fishing boat Shadow V in Mullaghmore, County Sligo, Ireland.

The book is published by Hutchinson, priced £20.