Queen Elizabeth died in Scotland. She loved her Balmoral Castle in beautiful Aberdeenshire. She also died there. Her husband had the title of Duke of Edinburgh, also in Scotland. But even though the Scots bid a tearful farewell to Queen Elizabeth this week, they are not as thrilled to be part of the United Kingdom. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will hold a referendum on Scottish independence in October next year. The British Supreme Court will decide whether she will be allowed. The British government does not want to accept another referendum just nine years after the previous one. But the point is that there has been a growing mood in Scotland to secede from the British Union after the British left the EU against the will of the Scottish majority. A round trip in skepticism King Charles and Queen Camilla traveled straight from Scotland to Northern Ireland, to receive the people’s condolences and share the grief over the loss of Queen Elizabeth with the people there as well. A girl lays a floral tribute to Queen Elizabeth outside King Charles’ residence Hillsborough Castle outside Belfast. Photo: PAUL FAITH / AFP In so-called loyalist circles there, people show their grief for the queen and sympathy for the king. But on the other side of the so-called peace walls, the mood is different. The nationalists, those who want to reunite with Ireland, are indifferent, reports the British media. In the Northern Ireland election in May this year, Sinn Féin became the largest party for the very first time. It is a party founded on Irish reunification – which in turn means separation from the British Union and goodbye to the monarchy. But the road there is probably long. Thus the road has been long for the relationship between Great Britain and the part of the Irish island which is an independent republic. Queen Elizabeth played an important role in reconciling the countries during the last years of her life. Reconciliation takes time In 2011, she was the first British monarch to visit the Republic of Ireland since the country became independent in 1922. This year, the Irish celebrated 100 years of independence. Only after almost 90 were the parties ready to meet. Queen Elizabeth gave a conciliatory speech in Dublin in 2011, but without regretting historical events. Photo: John Stillwell / AP Before the visit in 2011, there was great tension over whether she would apologize for the suffering the British inflicted on the country they ruled for centuries. People we spoke to in Dublin at the time had high expectations that the Queen’s visit would bring about change. She didn’t use words like ‘sorry’ or ‘sorry’, but went as far as any royal has done. She said people on both sides had suffered. And she said that in hindsight there were things that should have been done differently. And which should not have been done at all. He, who was Northern Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister at the time, was surprised. And Martin McGuinness was not a distinctly monarchist. The historic handshake Northern Ireland remained associated with the United Kingdom after Ireland became independent. The conflict between those who wanted the northern part of the island to be Irish and the supporters of British rule intensified. It grew into a full-blooded civil war that lasted 30 years. The Irish Republican Army IRA fought for freedom from the British. With terror and violence. The organization was behind assassination attempts and murders, and among other things took the life of Louis Mountbatten. He was the queen’s third son. He was also the uncle of the queen’s husband and a close confidant of the current king. It was therefore a very important moment when, in 2012, Queen Elizabeth shook the hand of then Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness on another historic visit to the Irish island. One of the world’s most important handshakes, it was called. Queen Elizabeth shook hands with former IRA man Martin McGuinness’ in Belfast in 2012. Photo: PAUL FAITH / AFP McGuinness had himself been in the IRA during the civil war. Those of us who followed the handshake up close held our breath when the queen entered the room. “One of the most important handshakes in the world,” one of Northern Ireland’s best-known journalists told me at the time. “She was actually nice,” said Martin McGuinness himself later. IRA man gives the king the people’s greeting King Charles is on Tuesday on his first visit to Northern Ireland as king. He will then be presented with the people’s condolences by the President of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Alex Maskey belongs to Sinn Féin and was a former member of the IRA. He is therefore working for a united Ireland. He therefore wants to become part of a republic, without a monarch as head. Now the political situation in Northern Ireland is chaotic, because the largest unionist party DUP – which is a supporter of the British union – refuses to sit in a self-governing government with Sinn Féin. When the King meets Michelle O’Neill today, she is not First Minister precisely because of this chaos. Northern Ireland lacks a government for the same reason. But it is the Sinn Fein politician who would normally have held that post now. However, normally – it would be the first time a nationalist, i.e. republican, would be Northern Ireland’s first minister. The DUP was the largest party before the election, but had already withdrawn in protest at the border controls between Great Britain and Northern Ireland that arose after the British left the EU. There are many tasks awaiting the new king, Charles III. And for the almost equally new Prime Minister, Liz Truss. One of the most important will be keeping the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland together.
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King Charles and the British Union – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
