Tonight I was invited by Rose Paterson and the Trustees of The Royal Irish Regiment Benevolent Fund to a Charity Fund Raising Reception and presentation on The Mongolian Derby by The Rt Hon Owen Paterson and his wife Rose at Hillsborough Castle .As High Sheriff of Belfast I had attended the RIR'S Remembrance Service in Belfast Cathedral on 6th November at which a collection had been taken for the Fund.
This year, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and his wife took part in a 1,000-kilometre race for charity, across the desolate steppes of Mongolia on semi-wild horses. Injury was likely and death a possibility, warned The Adventurists, organisers of the race. But, as the Patersons left for Ulan Bator to start the Mongol Derby in August, they had only the haziest notion of what lay ahead.
They had attempted to train before setting off, but it had backfired. At Hillsborough Castle, the official government residence in Northern Ireland, Owen had fallen off a piece of equipment in the gym and hurt his back; at home in his North Shropshire constituency, he tried cycling only to injure himself again. A trainer had him running up and down stairs but, sceptical about everything from the EU to exercise regimes, he concluded it was useless.
The Patersons spoke of their hazardous journey and the history of Gengis Khan and his Mongols .Born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu (太祖), he was the founder and Great Khan (emperor) of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death.
He came to power by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of northeast Asia. After founding the Mongol Empire and being proclaimed “Genghis Khan”, he started the Mongol invasions that resulted in the conquest of most of Eurasia. These included raids or invasions of the Kara-Khitan Khanate, Caucasus, Khwarezmid Empire, Western Xia and Jin dynasties. These campaigns were often accompanied by wholesale massacres of the civilian populations – especially in Khwarezmia. By the end of his life, the Mongol Empire occupied a substantial portion of Central Asia and China.
Musical entertainment for the evening was provided by The Piped and Drums of the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment, by kind pemission of the Commanding Officer.