Tens of thousands of Britons throng Tuesday to pray in front of the coffin of Elizabeth II in Edinburgh before her transfer to London. There are preparing a grandiose farewell to the sovereign with record longevity in the history of the United Kingdom.
For several hours, thousands of anonymous people have been gathering, bowing, curtsying, signing themselves or wiping away a tear in front of the oak coffin which rests in the cathedral of the Scottish capital.
Placed on a platform and covered with the yellow, red and navy blue standard of Scotland, a wreath of white flowers and the solid gold crown of Scotland placed above, the coffin remained accessible throughout the night at the population, guarded by four royal archers placed around it, and protected by a wide cord which keeps the public at a distance of several meters.
The public presentation was not interrupted when King Charles III and his three siblings, Princes Andrew and Edward, and Princess Anne, came in the evening with Queen Consort Camilla to observe a wake.
The children of Elizabeth II thus stood all four with their backs to the coffin for ten minutes, before leaving the cathedral to the applause of the crowd. During this short moment of meditation by the royal family, the flow of visitors, in absolute silence, did not stop.
Royal and anonymous tribute
Britons – and foreigners – who turned out in droves to pay their respects to the Queen in person, had to wait for hours to receive a sticker bracelet allowing them to enter the cathedral.
The body of Elizabeth II, who reigned for 70 years and is more than a familiar presence to her people, had until Monday evening been kept away from the general public: first at Balmoral Castle, in the north of Scotland, where the monarch died Thursday at the age of 96, then at the royal palace of Holyroodhouse.
Popular figure, rock of stability in the storm sometimes political, social or health (during the Covid-19), the queen was a reassuring image for millions of Britons during all these decades on the throne.
‘She was everything to us. She was our queen, and that’s royalism. One of the things the queen has always brought us is this feeling of security,” commented Marina Reid, 54, interviewed by AFP in Belfast, Northern Ireland. ‘She’s all I’ve known, all the country has ever known. We all feel like we know her personally,” said Joanne Booth, a 36-year-old orthodontist from Ireland.
Republican ambitions
It is in Belfast that Charles III and Queen Consort Camilla are to go on Tuesday to meet politicians and receive condolences in a context of renewed community tensions since Brexit in this province with a bloody past.
On Monday, he began a tour of the four constituent nations of the United Kingdom, first with the British Parliament in London, then that of Edinburgh, before Cardiff, in Wales, on Friday. In front of the House of Lords and the House of Commons in London, he spoke of his mother on Monday, using the words of Shakespeare saying that she was “a model for all living princes”, which he said was “resolved to follow faithfully.
The 73-year-old new king, older than all British sovereigns when they ascended to the throne, is settling into his new role at a critical moment: the country, in the grip of a serious social and political crisis, has a new Prime Minister only a few days ago. Her mother has always been flawlessly neutral, forcing herself never to speak publicly about her opinions.
The king will probably have to face the claims of some of his 14 other kingdoms (including in particular Australia, the Bahamas, Canada, New Zealand or even Jamaica) which could claim a new regime, driven by republican desires to favor of this change of sovereign.
Last stop before London
Elizabeth II, meanwhile, began her last journey on Sunday. The Queen’s body has thus reached the third stage of its journey: after leaving Balmoral, a castle that Elizabeth II loved and where she died, she stayed one night at the royal palace of Holyroodhouse, the official royal residence of the ruler in Scotland, then joined St. Giles Cathedral.
On Tuesday afternoon, the coffin will leave the cathedral for Edinburgh Airport where it will board a royal plane for London, escorted by Princess Anne. He will be greeted on his arrival by King Charles and other members of the royal family.
He will spend the night at Buckingham Palace, in the Bow Room. Then will begin the second part of presentation to the public, London this time, which should see hundreds of thousands of people parade for a little less than five days 24 hours a day.
Two days before the opening to the public, the first settled Monday at the head of a line which could reach eight kilometers, noted an AFP journalist. The Queen’s state funeral will take place on Monday attended by some 500 foreign dignitaries and many crowned heads.
/ATS