EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — King Charles flew to Northern Ireland on Tuesday on the latest leg of his tour of the nations that make up Britain, as thousands of people paid their last respects to his mother’s coffin. Lined up all night in Edinburgh.
On Monday night, Charles and his brothers Anne, Andrew and Edward bowed and ambushed the passing members of the public around their mother’s flagged coffin in St Giles Cathedral.
Early Tuesday morning, a man in a suit adorned with medals stood in silence, bowed his head, and moved on. A woman wiping her tears with a handkerchief. Another woman with two young children in school uniforms walked slowly past her coffin.
A few people passed the coffin and rejoined the end of the line to get a second view.
Scots, who died at their beloved Balmoral manor in the Highlands after a reign of 70 years, were almost universal in their praise of the Queen.
Among mourners lined up outside St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh’s historic centre, Sheila McCrea called the Queen “a wonderful ambassador for our country”.
“She was a role model for each of us. She was dignified. She was just beautiful inside and out. And I’ve known her my whole life. And I miss her so much.” ‘ she added.
The British monarchy attracts more mixed feelings in Northern Ireland, where there are two major communities. Mostly Protestant trade unionists who consider themselves British, and mostly Roman Catholic nationalists who consider themselves Irish.
The split fueled 30 years of violence known as The Trouble, involving militias on both sides and British security forces, which left 3,600 dead. The royal family was personally touched by the violence: in 1979, the Queen’s cousin and beloved leader of Charles, Sir Louis Mountbatten, was killed by an Irish Republican Army bomb.
A quarter of a century after the 1998 Northern Ireland peace agreement, deep sectarian divisions remain.
But as a sign of how far Northern Ireland has come on the road to peace, representatives of Sinn Fein, the main Irish nationalist party that led to the IRA during the Troubles, attended a commemorative event for the Queen. will meet the King on Tuesday.
Sin Fine president Mary Lou Macdonald paid tribute to the 96-year-old monarch who died last Thursday, calling her a “strong advocate and ally of those who believe in peace and reconciliation.”
The president and prime minister of neighboring Ireland are also scheduled to attend a memorial service in Belfast, despite strained relations between Dublin and London over Brexit. Since the UK left her EU in 2020, the UK and her EU have been fighting over Northern Ireland’s trade rules.
After lying in the cathedral for much of Tuesday, the Queen’s coffin will return to London and be taken to her official London residence, Buckingham Palace.
In the early hours of Tuesday, dozens of workers were seen clearing trash and weeds from the road between the air force base where the plane carrying the Queen’s coffin will land and central London.
Lawless and Corder report from London.
Follow AP’s coverage of the deaths of Queen Elizabeth II and the British royal family at https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii.
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