Hundreds of people lined the road leading to Hillsborough Castle near Belfast, the royal family’s official residence in Northern Ireland, in the latest outpouring of affection since Queen Elizabeth’s death on September 8. The area in front of the castle gates was carpeted with hundreds of flower offerings. Charles and his wife, Camilla, the Queen Consort, got out of their car to greet villagers — waving to the cheering crowd and sometimes using both hands at once to shake the mass of outstretched hands of people , including students in blue uniforms. Charles even petted a corgi – his late mother’s famously beloved dog breed – held by a person, and some in the crowd chanted “God save the King!” “Today means so much to me and my family, to be present in my village with my children, to witness the arrival of the new King is a truly historic moment for all of us,” Hillsborough resident Robin Campbell said. as he waited. for the new monarch. Members of the public gather outside Hillsborough Castle in Belfast ahead of King Charles’ visit to Northern Ireland on Tuesday. (Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images) “It is also a day filled with great sadness as we witness a loving son come to our village while we all mourn the loss of a truly wonderful Queen and his loving mother.”
Mixed reactions in Northern Ireland
While there has been a warm welcome in Hillsborough, the British monarchy evokes mixed feelings in Northern Ireland, where there are two main communities: mainly Protestant unionists who consider themselves British and largely Roman Catholic nationalists who consider themselves Irish. This split sparked three decades of violence known as “The Troubles” involving paramilitary groups on both sides and UK security forces, in which 3,600 people were killed. The royal family was personally moved by the violence: Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Queen’s cousin and Charles’ much-loved mentor, was killed by an Irish Democratic Army bomb in 1979. A deep sectarian divide remains, a quarter of a century after the 1998 Northern Ireland peace deal. For some Irish nationalists, the British monarch represents an oppressive foreign power. But others recognize the Queen’s role in forging peace. On a visit to Northern Ireland in 2012, she shook hands with Sinn Fein deputy leader Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander – a once-unthinkable moment of reconciliation. Alex Muskie, a Sinn Fein politician who is the speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, said the Queen had “demonstrated how individual acts of positive leadership can help break down barriers and encourage reconciliation”. In a sign of how far Northern Ireland has come on the road to peace, Sinn Fein representatives are attending memorial services for the Queen and meeting the King on Tuesday. Maskey offered his condolences to the King at an event at Hillsborough Castle attended by leaders from all the main political parties in Northern Ireland. Charles replied that his mother “felt deeply, I know, the importance of the part which she herself played in bringing together those whom history had separated, and in reaching out a hand to make possible the healing of long wounds.” He said he would build on his mother’s “shining example” and “pursue the well-being of all the people of Northern Ireland”.
“Not our king”
In Belfast’s Falls Road, a nationalist stronghold, several walls are decorated with murals of Bobby Sands, an iconic IRA member who died while on hunger strike in prison in 1981, and others killed in the Troubles. “No, he’s not our king. Bobby Sands was our king here,” said 52-year-old Bobby Jones. “The Queen never did anything for us. She never did. None of the royals do.” Sinn Féin president Mary Lou Macdonald paid tribute to the 96-year-old monarch after her death last Thursday, calling her a “strong advocate and ally for those who believe in peace and reconciliation”. The president and prime minister of the neighboring Republic of Ireland are also due to attend the memorial service in Belfast, despite strained relations between Dublin and London over Brexit. Since Britain left the European Union in 2020, the UK and EU have been at loggerheads over trade rules for Northern Ireland, the only part of the UK that shares a border with a member of the bloc. On Monday night in Scotland, Charles and his brothers Anne, Andrew and Edward, heads bowed, held a brief vigil around their mother’s flag-draped coffin at St. WATCHES | Scotland bids farewell to Queen Elizabeth:
Scotland bids farewell to Queen Elizabeth
Earlier, a man wearing a suit adorned with medals stood silently, bowed his head and walked forward. A woman wiped away tears with a handkerchief. Another woman with two small children in their school uniforms walked slowly past the coffin. In the queue of mourners outside the cathedral of St. Giles in the historic heart of the capital, Sheila McLeay called the Queen “a wonderful ambassador for our country”. “She was such an example to all of us. She was dignified. She was just, she was beautiful inside and out. And I’ve known her all my life. And I miss her so much,” he added. After lying in state at the cathedral for most of Tuesday, the Queen’s coffin will be flown to London and taken to her official London home, Buckingham Palace. WATCHES | The Traditions and Protocols of Britain’s Farewell to Queen Elizabeth:
The traditions and protocols of Britain’s farewell to Queen Elizabeth
The Royal Air Force C-17 Globemaster plane that will carry the coffin has been used in the past to evacuate people from Afghanistan and to transport humanitarian aid and weapons to Ukraine after the Russian invasion, said the chief of the British air force, Sir Mike Wigston. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, dozens of workers were seen clearing litter and weeds from the road between the air base where the plane carrying the Queen’s coffin will land and central London.
