Documentary: A Kingdom Says Goodbye

[Music] yesterday was a day that we all knew would come sometime but in our hearts of hearts we hoped never would [Music] queen elizabeth ii was the rock on which modern britain was built for the vast majority of us it feels impossible to imagine a briton without her [Music] millions of us are trying to understand why we are feeling this deep and personal and almost familial sense of loss [Music] the british people are preparing to bid a final farewell to queen elizabeth ii the country's longest serving sovereign and a single common reference point for all of us and to some the person that most bound our sense of national identity [Music] it's been more than 70 years since britain has seen anything like this a country saying goodbye to one monarch while also meeting the next queen elizabeth was a life well lived a promise with destiny kept and she is mourned most deeply in her passing that promise of lifelong service i renew to all today as her coffin makes its last long journey to london the new king makes his first visits as monarch to his new kingdom i'm following him to all four corners of the uk as he prepares to bury his mother [Music] the queen was often described as a figure of stability and comfort in uncertain times but will i find a country which can find that same reassurance in him [Music] [Applause] i was incredibly dignified amazing to see so many thousands of people go completely silent as the procession went past she's one of one of the icons in the country and she's she's scottish you know what i mean i think queenie scots that's where she get calls didn't she but moral or second home do you think king charles can maintain that level of affection um that's i don't think so i don't think i don't think he'll have well he's not gonna have the rain that she did and he's what maybe got 20 years at most i would imagine i don't think he'll get the same love and admiration as she did what's she done for scotland what does scottish people think of the queen um i think it's probably mixed but from my perspective i think she encourages unity and she doesn't make any difference relevant of your creative religion your beliefs do you think charles can do that to the same degree to the same level of success i'm not so sure that i would have believed that beforehand but i think the way in which he's portrayed himself and certainly in the last week he's went up really high in my estimations and i'm behind the king definitely do you think the new king will be as popular a monarch as his mother no not as popular he may be popular i'm sure he will try to follow in her footsteps these are very very big shoes to follow uh no i don't think so i have to say uh there's a checkered history there for for charles and and camilla but i wish him well but to follow his mother is a very hard royal routes here in scotland run deep and often alongside strong nationalist sentiment there is a sense that the queen was almost the glue that held all the devolved nations together gave us all a shared sense of of britishness perhaps will that now change under king charles well i think we have to think about the continuity of monarchy and it's the is that always having a monarch that is that beacon of stability politics by its very nature is short-lived but we take reassurance that we will always have a monarch but this the demise of this monarch is clearly a a big moment in history and one that will take quite a lot of adjusting for many many people until they feel settled we've had so much change in a week we saw a new prime minister and a new head of state that's just extraordinary and unheard of and people are reeling from all the challenges they're facing in their daily life and i'm no different [Music] scottish independence isn't chiefly motivated by republicanism but it is an undercurrent [Music] without the queen as a unifying force the movement will likely get stronger [Music] through all the years of her reign the queen like so many generations of our family before her found in the hills of this land and in the hearts of its people a haven and a home do you think scotland's opinion of the monarchy will change now the queen has died and charles has taken the throne well the position of scotland with regard to the monarchy has been changing the monarchy still has majority support in scotland but rather less so than in england that's been going on for the last 30 or 40 years it's connected with the independence question on the other hand you have to separate the position of the monarch from the institution of monarchy and the late queen was much more popular than the institution itself so we'll have to see how the new king fares do you think the king can unify the country in the same way that the queen did because it's quite fractured isn't it the uk it is yeah i'm not sure i'm not frankly sure he's capable of doing that i hope he is i'd like to see him do that that time will tell if he can pull it together when the announcement came to be queen of died i was at the football it was half time at the hearts game it was really interesting so we had a minute silence that was spoiled by sort of some people sort of anti-monarchy and some people that were sort of trying to sing the national anthem and they were put down so i think uh yeah i think it's a real sort of interesting time that we're in the scottish people are the first to say goodbye to the queen and to meet king charles close up [Music] queen elizabeth famously said that life was full of first meetings and final goodbyes a coffin departs edinburgh in an raf c-17 for the last time [Music] in northern ireland the king touches down to mark his mother's passing [Music] here feelings towards the monarchy are the most polarized of anywhere [Music] but this week the country's fraught politics take a back seat in the loyalist schankel area of belfast solemn crowds gather to pay tribute it's quite incredible the number of flowers and flags and tributes that have been left here thank you mom your service is done says that one what does that say in memory of the people's queen little 10 year old boy may flights of angels sing the to thy rest and they're still coming we've always thought highly of the queen she was absolutely amazing person will never get anyone else like her you must have been very sad when when you heard that she passed away furry sides uh she had it here because uh it came very sudden because she had just welcomed uh a new prime minister on the bid one farewell and was very sad that uh two days later should uh pass but thankfully uh surpassed uh peacefully and has left a nice legacy for us you know to remember by a few streets away in the republican area of falls road response to the queen's death and the new monarch's visit is more muted do you have any feelings towards the queen do you have any sort of respect for her given given what she achieved in her lifetime um well i hope we better remorse in the sense of it's someone's grandparent but other than that no not really that's it didn't really bring anything to yours in this area and is that the feeling more widely do you think but bernie there is yeah like there's a lot of hardship hard times around here nick during the troubles and obviously all that wasn't made easier by the royal family so we're kind of just getting normal all of our day-to-day life nothing's changing well it's wrong been done on that you have to um not say forgiven forgetful don't think you'd ever forget things just has happened but it's a new day a new day which belongs to king charles [Applause] [Music] [Applause] but underlying tensions endure despite the show of unity [Music] [Applause] royal supporters screamed and bust in cheer his arrival to the royal residence [Music] inside he meets the vice president of sinn fein a growing political force in today's northern ireland and its largest party incredibly kind things that you've said about me well she played a great role here in terms of reconciliation about my face so it's the end of an era for sure a handshake that is evidence of both progress and uncertainty about what lies ahead [Music] my mother felt deeply i know the significance of the role she herself played in bringing together those whom history had separated and in extending a hand to make possible the healing of long-held hurts now with that shining example before me and with god's help i take up my new duties resolved to seek the welfare of all the inhabitants of northern ireland northern ireland is a place where queen elizabeth had a very personal influence her reign was dotted with symbolic interventions that only she could make those gestures were hugely powerful just in giving other people in northern ireland permission to step away from their historic views perhaps their very entrenched ideologies and start to reconcile one with another [Music] i think if you move forward to where we are now michelle o'neill who's the uh vice president of sinn fein and the leader of shinto sinfina northern making very heartfelt tributes to the queen and sympathizing with the royal family these are things that to me would have been unthinkable 15 20 years ago they just wouldn't have happened so that shows how far we have come and there is a there is clearly a a level of maturity in political discourse in northern ireland now and on the island of ireland that we haven't really seen in decades and it's it's very refreshing to me and it's something that has to be built on now by king charles what role does king charles have in trying to unify the united kingdom i'm not sure that his rule necessarily is to promote unionism but it is to i think show that regardless of what the future holds there is some kind of certainty and stability at the center and i think that that can be a hugely important role [Music] [Applause] a crowd gathers outside saint anne's cathedral captivated by the ceremony inside the service has been lovely you know i feel like you know seeing all those presbyterian church of ireland different ministers from across uh different christian backgrounds is so important especially northern ireland and it's lovely to see the unity across the political spectrum even those who are opponents to the monarchy paying the respect for the queen first of all i would like to pay tribute to the work that our late majesty has done for peace and reconciliation on this island of ireland and between our two islands in fact i think she should be proclaimed regina patches queen of peace for what she has done i'm quite sure that king charles will follow in the footsteps of his mother in time we'll see how much king charles deviates from the queen's path but for now his duty is to deliver his mother over to her people [Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] the queen has arrived at her official home for the last time tomorrow her coffin will be handed over to lyon state it will be a day of pageantry and ceremony that has not been seen in a lifetime [Music] thousands of people have filled the streets of the capital to see the queen's coffin an opportunity to see history unfold before their eyes [Music] well this is incredible the number of people here is unbelievable i was here during the platinum jubilee and the atmosphere is so different it's um i wouldn't say it somber or sad but it's very quiet and i think people are being genuinely respectful members of the armed forces here people who look like they've come from work people of all ages actually youngsters as well when you had the horse riders standing in fields connected and then the tractor driver so everybody from every walk of life has lined the route somewhere and it is a very sad day but charles is the man to take it forward and i'm sure he will there's not a single person in america not a politician not a notable that i'd have waited in the rain for hours to watch go by so the fact that i'm an american in the street in the rain waiting for your queen to go by was we don't have anything like this i mean it's a connection to history that you have that we we really don't and you know i mean right now we're struggling with our politics and we don't have anything above it well she's such a it's such a historical figure a lady who's on the duty for such a long time i follow england around the world football and we always sing the national anthem and it becomes quite uh infectious and so it's a it's a nice way of paying respects seeing charles i think he's got an epically challenging job on his hands but he's well prepared i think he'll be a great [Music] the lives and reigns of kings and queens form an ark through britain's past and at times like this it's like a page is turning one error ending and another just beginning [Music] [Music] it's a really sad day but i'm so privileged to be here everyone's been incredibly respectful haven't they yes so quiet yes that that was um i'm really glad about that she deserved to have that respect and yeah it was remarkably quiet wasn't it that was quite something wasn't it it was amazing i mean we all came here i don't know these people but we all came together today all from different parts of the country had a little chat beforehand and then a wave of silence came towards us and it was just a calm and it was a beautiful moment this the sun came out look at the sun now and just shone down and it was just it's just so emotional we just we all had a little tear and a hold of hands it was like it was a lovely lovely thing to witness i'm so glad i came i'm from uganda myself and it's good for me to be here as a black person as well just to say appreciate that the love the kindness she's brought to the commonwealth and basically show my children you know let them be part of the history around here i think like it was like really beautiful like how much respect everyone pays attention to like the queen's stuff and i think that of the queen was like a really good leader to like the whole country and like made people feel like more more happy and stuff about it but now that she sadly died it's really like upsetting and like upsetting everyone but um she's she's in a safe place now [Music] the queen arrives in the palace of westminster leaving a wake of emotions [Music] foreign [Music] here she stays for five days and nights lying in state every minute kept company by a constant stream of people from different places generations and cultures for the new king his journey around the country has only just begun what do you think of king charles what do you make of him can you carry on the queen's work he definitely can he's been brought up that way and you've got the same morals as the queen so hopefully yes big shoes to fill though very big shoes the felony is the queen nobody else could walk in our steps he has a lot of support in these crowds but the challenge he faces is clear no one can succeed the queen in the imagination of the british public for some people who've descended on london this isn't about the history and the pageantry it's far more personal you decided to do this rather than see the procession yes i think we felt we need to decide to do one thing or the other because i think if you did the procession and then joined the queue you would be here for days really i think we've lost an enormous figure in our lives and in our country and it will take a very long time to come to terms with that but we already know there's been a seamless handover we still have a monarch i think it's important for the uk possibly some parts of the world maybe the whole world you know momentous occasion talk me through how you're feeling what sort of emotions have you got what's going through your head got all the tissues ready like any of you pay respects you think you might shed it's here i am you are all ready she is a magnificent woman of course and i love this you know since i know she was my mama in papa's first head of the state they are in sri lanka and she was head of the state in siloam back in the days since 1952 1952-72 so this for my mom and dad that's what i'm doing for them [Music] and this is the queue they're standing in thousands of people stretching miles through central london that's thousands of individual journeys to see the queen's coffin these people will wait for hours for their moment inside westminster hall [Music] [Music] how did you find that it was so moving inside i didn't expect i didn't expect at all i i was trying to hold my emotion i never get that kind emotional i never cried so it was it was quite lovely to see what did you make of that just gorgeous i think she's just a bit speechless and i'm welling up as well it's a very emotional day i think for the country and i wait till monday you know when the funeral is here i think it would be a whole country which will just be grief stricken so how was how was that experience um amazing very serene and tranquil beautiful and yes so moving so moving and worth all those hours queueing absolutely [Music] me hmm [Music] you

Channel: Sky News

Views: 560,167

Keywords: sky news live, sky news latest, live, latest, news, sky, breaking, scotland, edinburgh, royal mile, mile, royals, royal family, queen, elizabeth, kind, charles, anne, prince, princess, england, uk, united kingdom, london, cathedral, death, st giles', northolt, lying in state, westminster hall, ceremony, wesminster, coffin lying in state, queeen lying in state, back of the queue, DOCUMENTARY, A KINGDOM SAYS GOODBYE, JONATHAN SAMUELS

Id: o2N7wqmHwWw

Length: 29min 25sec (1765 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 16 2022