(EDINBURGH, United Kingdom) – The mortal remains of Elizabeth II arrived in Edinburgh this Sunday from the Scottish castle of Bamoral, where she died on Thursday at the age of 96, in the first stage of a journey that allows the British to bid farewell to their queen longer lasting.
After a six-hour journey, the hearse entered the Palace of Holyroodhouse in the Scottish capital, shortly before 4:30 p.m. local time, carrying the oak coffin covered with the Scottish royal banner and a crown of white flowers in its inside.
As during its journey of almost 300 kilometers through the green Scottish countryside, thousands of people lined the cobbled streets of Edinburgh to watch and applaud the passage of the funeral procession.
“Her Majesty selflessly gave us her life and time. Paying tribute to her in a traditional way was a way of thanking her for everything she did,” Mark Lindley-Highfield, 47, dressed in a black tailcoat and hat, explained at Balmoral. cup
The coffin will rest in the throne room of the Palace of Holyroodhouse, before being transferred on Monday in procession to the nearby Cathedral of Saint Giles, where a service will be held in the presence of King Charles III and where people will be able to bid farewell to their “beloved breast”.
On Tuesday afternoon, a plane will transport the coffin to London for several days of popular homage and a funeral on September 19 in the presence of world dignitaries, such as the American Joe Biden or the Japanese emperor Naruhito.
In London, the queen’s remains will be carried in procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Palace on Wednesday, where she will remain on a purple catafalque until the first state funeral since former Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s in 1965.
The funeral of the sovereign will take place in Westminster Abbey, where the young Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Maria married in November 1947 and where on June 2, 1953 she was crowned queen after the death of her father George VI on February 6 from 1952.
“Reunited by Grief”
Although the leading role returns to the late sovereign after the proclamation of her son as the new King Charles III, the reappearance together of Princes William and Harry, along with their wives Catalina and Meghan, took over the front page of the Sunday newspapers.
“Reunited by Grief,” headlined the Sunday Telegraph, alongside a picture of the two couples walking together in Windsor. The Sunday Times specified that “long negotiations” were needed between the two couples, who are considered estranged, for that media moment.
The death of Elizabeth II after seven decades on the throne shocked the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth (Commonwealth of Nations) and the world. His son Charles III was proclaimed king of the United Kingdom on Saturday and, this Sunday, of Australia and New Zealand.
Chinese President Xi Jinping congratulated Carlos III on Sunday, in a message in which he expressed his wish “to expand friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation and strengthen communication on global issues,” according to the Xinhua agency.
“Elizabeth the Great”
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the other constituent nations of the United Kingdom along with England, also officially proclaimed it this Saturday, but Sinn Fein, a party in favor of the reunification of Ireland, did not participate in the one held in Belfast.
The party recognized “the very positive role that the queen played in promoting peace” after decades of unrest between Catholic Republicans and Protestant Unionists, but considered that the proclamation of Carlos III was only for “those who are loyal to the Crown.”
The new 73-year-old monarch will visit Belfast on Tuesday to collect official condolences, as part of a tour of the United Kingdom nations that will begin on Monday in Edinburgh and will take him to Cardiff on Friday.
The planned presence of the new prime minister, Liz Truss, at these ceremonies across the country sparked criticism that the Conservative would seek to take political advantage of the situation.
His predecessor, Boris Johnson, paid an emotional tribute days ago to Elizabeth II, whose “indomitability”, “humor”, “work ethic” and “sense of history” made her, in his opinion, “Isabel the Great” .
