The Duke of Cambridge has called upon Ireland and the UK to work together post-Brexit in order to maintain their "unique and precious bond".

As the Government negotiates post-Brexit legal treaties, he cautioned that relationships between people were often more important than those between states.

The Duke, speaking at a reception in Dublin last night, also borrowed a phrase from The Queen as he sought to cement the strong ties between the two nations.

"Today, our relationship goes far beyond two countries that are simply neighbours," he said. "We are 'firm friends and equal partners', my grandmother put it.”

For the Duke, it was a rare foray into the politically fraught subject of Brexit and perhaps his most direct intervention to date.

He said: "Of course, the changing relationship between the UK and the EU will require us to work together, to ensure that the relationship between Ireland and the UK remains just as strong.

"Ladies and gentlemen, legal treaties are vital in underpinning the relationships between states. But relationships between people are equally, if not more essential – especially between the people of our two countries, whose lives, histories and futures are so deeply intertwined."

The Duke insisted that Britain and Ireland's relationship must not be bound by the "many wrongs" of the past, revealing that he remembered the Troubles from his childhood.

But he said that memories of heartache and turbulence only served as a reminder of how far we have come.

"It is right that we continue to remember those who suffered as a consequence of our troubled past," he told the audience at the Museum of Literature Ireland.

"And whilst many wrongs have been done, it is important that we are not bound by these."

The Duke, who along with the Duchess of Cambridge was on his first official visit to the country, added: "I am confident that friendship, understanding and a shared vision for a peaceful and prosperous future will ensure that the unique and precious bond between our people is not broken.

"My family is determined to continue playing our part in protecting, preserving and strengthening that bond."