Charles III arrives in Edinburgh for queen coffin procession
LONDON (AP) — King Charles landed in Edinburgh on Monday to accompany his late mother’s coffin on an emotion-charged procession through the historic heart of the Scottish capital to a cathedral where it will lie for 24 hours to allow the public to pay their last respects.
Charles flew to Scotland after earlier receiving condolences at Parliament and telling lawmakers he would follow his late mother’s example of “selfless duty.”
Earlier, Queen Elizabeth II's grandson Prince Harry hailed her as a “guiding compass” and praised her “unwavering grace and dignity."
The government, meanwhile, announced that the nation will observe a minute of silence on Sunday, the evening before the queen's funeral. The “moment of reflection” will take place at 8 p.m. (1900 GMT). People were encouraged to mark the silence at home or at community events.
Hundreds of lawmakers crowded into the 1,000-year-old Westminster Hall at the Houses of Parliament for the service, rich in pageantry, in which Parliament offered its condolences to the king, and he replied.
A trumpet fanfare greeted the king and his wife Camilla, the queen consort, as they entered the hall, which was packed with hundreds of legislators.
Charles told members of the House of Commons and House of Lords that he would follow his late mother Queen Elizabeth II in upholding “the precious principles of constitutional governance” that underpin the U.K.’s political system.
He paid tribute to his mother, saying: “As Shakespeare said of the earlier Queen Elizabeth, she was a pattern to all princes living.”
The hall, with its magnificent hammer-beam roof, is the oldest part of the parliamentary complex — a remnant of the medieval Palace of Westminster that once stood on the site.
“As I...