NEven before the state funeral on Monday, King Charles wants to have visited the three “nations” on the fringes of the kingdom. None of these journeys is without problems. In Scotland, the new king received a lot of sympathy at the beginning of the week, even in the nationalist-dominated parliament. But there were also ugly scenes. Before and during the procession in Edinburgh, the police arrested three demonstrators, some of them brutally, because they shouted republican slogans into the mourning silence. The night before, a woman had been taken away who had shouted “Fuck imperialism, abolish the monarchy!” in front of the cathedral where the Queen was to be laid out. Civil rights organizations expressed their outrage at the actions of the police.
While the Scottish nationalists have their own state but want to keep their king, and independence efforts in Wales are still in their infancy, the strongest party in Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein, is aiming for reunification with the Irish Republic in the near future. When Charles and Camilla arrived at Hillsborough Castle, the family home in south Belfast, on Tuesday, there was initially no sign of this. Enthusiastic onlookers greeted the royal couple. Representatives of all parties were then invited to the reception. Officially, however, the king received his condolences from Alex Maskey, who represents the (suspended) parliament in Northern Ireland and wrote Sinn Fein history as the first Belfast mayor 20 years ago.
No excuse for an assassination
Maskey was imprisoned as an IRA man in the 1970s and was long a hate figure for Unionists, who are slowly losing political ground in Northern Ireland. Now, Maskey has acknowledged the “positive leadership” Queen Elizabeth II has shown in Northern Ireland and the former Crown Prince’s commitment to reconciliation. Former British Minister for Northern Ireland Peter Hain spoke on Tuesday of “one of those moments that will never happen” that would happen after all and would advance the peace process.
For the Sinn Fein, participating in the monarchical ceremonies is a tightrope act. Michelle O’Neill, who is aspiring to become Belfast’s First Minister, decided to attend tributes to the late Queen but not events marking the change of throne. It’s not always easy to tell the difference these days. Their attempt reflects the Nationalists’ concern for angering their Republican and anti-British following.
Charles has a long history with Northern Ireland, which he visited for the 40th time on Tuesday. After the assassination of his great-uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten, who fell victim to a targeted bomb attack by the IRA in 1979, his personal relationships with Sinn Fein, the former political mouthpiece of the IRA, were particularly strained. Charles had been very close personally to Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India.
Queen Elizabeth took a decisive step ten years ago when she shook hands with then Deputy Prime Minister (and former IRA commander) Martin McGuinness in Belfast as part of her Diamond Jubilee trip. Three years later, Charles became the first member of the royal family to meet and shake hands with Gerry Adams, the longtime “president” of Sinn Fein, in the Northern Irish capital. Adams expressed his “regret” over the assassination at the time, but couldn’t offer an apology. In 1979 he had justified the murder of Mountbatten and three other family members, including two of his grandsons.
The gestures of the Queen and then Crown Prince were seen as an important contribution to the peace process, which is now back in troubled waters. Since the May elections, the unionist DUP has refused to form a government led by Sinn Fein for the first time. The DUP is calling for the Northern Ireland protocol to be scrapped in the Brexit deal, which has distanced the province from the UK on trade policy (and brought it closer to EU member Ireland). Even if the king did not interfere in day-to-day politics, the situation is likely to have shaped his personal conversations. Many in the DUP and other unionist parties fear the change of throne could further weaken ties with the kingdom.
