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Crowds descend on Shankill and Hillsborough to mark Queen’s death and witness history in making as new reign beckons
Sharon O'Neill Twitter Email
September 10 2022 09:08 PM
On the day a son officially became a sovereign, the people of Northern Ireland also played their part.
This castle at the top of a village is forever part of the Royal story — and now the place where a new monarch will stay when he visits.
On Friday, the guns rang out for Queen Elizabeth II. A day later they did the same for her son, King Charles III.
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A 21-gun salute at Hillsborough Castle
Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye
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His first visit to Hillsborough will come next, but for now the hearts and minds of most are still focused on the loss of the only monarch most can remember.
Jason Hamilton and his mother Jennifer live in the village — their views of the monarchy are very different — but this son wanted to support the mum he affectionately calls his own “Queen of Hillsborough”.
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Jason Hamilton and his mum Jennifer Hamilton in Hillsborough
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“She (the Queen) used to come here for the holidays in the summer because her aunt was the governor’s wife up here. So it’s part of my life and she was a wonderful woman,’’ says Jennifer.
“(Mum) loves the Queen, she is absolutely mad about her,” says Jason.
“In terms of myself, and I don’t mean this disrespectfully, there is lot of serious stuff going on in the world like the economy. It’s one thing to have respect and to honour the King, but to go beyond that…”
Jason reveals he was closer to royalty than first appeared. He was a gardener at Hillsborough Castle and met the new King a number of times when Charles was a prince.
“A story I liked was a guy, a man working on pipes or something, was working in the evening,” recalls Jason.
“This guy comes up to him and asks what was he doing on the pipes, and the worker looked up and it was Charles and says, ‘Sorry sir, I didn’t realise it was you!’
“That was the impression I got when I was talking to him. Like I say, I’m not a complete loyalist and I go by the man, not just what he says and does. But when I met him he was lovely.
“He loves gardening so he was asking me about my gear (tools for gardening).”
The carpet of flowers snuggling the gates of Hillsborough will just get bigger over the next week.
At noon tomorrow the Accession Proclamation will be read at the castle to coincide with ones in Edinburgh and Cardiff. The event here will be attended by a number of dignitaries and there will also be another gun salute.
Then on Tuesday, King Charles III and his wife Camilla, Queen Consort, will travel to Hillsborough Castle where they will also attend a service in memory of the Queen.
Already evident here, a new generation of Royal fans are now emerging.
One card, nestled among the flowers, stuck out. It was from a boy called Oliver, who is just 10 years old. With it, a drawing of one of the Queen’s beloved corgis.
Addressed to the ‘Royal Family’, Daniel wrote: “I’m so sorry at the loss of the Queen. It must be so different for you all not having her there. I wish King Charles III a good reign.”
Nine-year-old Henry Spence came with his father Brian and little sister Mary Kate. “She’s helped a lot of people and had very good manners and stuff,” says Henry.
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Eight-month-old Every Graham who was at Hillsborough with her mother Caitlyn
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New mum Caitlyn Graham (23) brought along her eight-month-old daughter Every. “I will tell her how the Queen has impacted on everyone’s life, including mine,” explains Caitlyn. “I was brought up with mum and dad telling me about her and I grew to love her. And I want to pass that on,’’
Laverne Cairns had her two children James (14) and Rachel (8) in tow — both now at an age that they at least know this is significant.
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Laverne Cairns with her children James and Rachel in Hillsborough
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“I think it is a monumental experience for the children. I think it’s very important for them to be here, they will probably see two kings and a queen in their lifetime,’’ says Laverne.
“In later years I’ll tell the youngest (Rachel). She’s too young to understand and grasp it yet.”
Hillsborough Castle is a constant in the lives of many here including the local Orange Lodge.
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Warren Currie, District Master, Hillsborough LOL, at Hillsborough Castle
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“Growing up in Hillsborough, going to school, being brought into the castle, seeing the Royals fly in on the red helicopter, it’s very significant,’’ says Warren Currie, District Master of Hillsborough LOL.
“It’s been a very moving morning. We carried out an act of remembrance with a piper, with the private lodges and the most senior lodges of Co Down here, along with the Royal Hillsborough junior lodge.”
Days of mourning are still to come but what’s happening now was always well planned for. The Royal succession is emotional but inevitable. The end of one era — the beginning of another.
And there was a lot of chat about the King’s first speech.
“He (Charles) has a lot of experience of public life, but it must have been very hard just after the death of his mother. I think he connected the same way his mother did,’’ says Warren.
“You could see the tears in his eyes. He did so well, he said all the right things,” says Jennifer Hamilton.
Little Henry Spence will wait and see.
“I don’t know what to think of him yet. He’s only been King a few days, so I’m not sure,’’ he adds.
Hillsborough is not the only place reflecting and remembering — 13 miles away on the Shankill Road in Belfast — also a community that loved their Queen and is excited about their new King.
Lily Fenning is 96 years old — the same age as the Queen was. “I love the Royal family. That’s (floral tributes) wonderful isn’t it. And I think King Charles will do very well, he will make a good king,” she tells Sunday Life.
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96-year-old Lily Fenning pays her respects to the Queen on the Shankill Road
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Lily was very upset when the news broke and simply had to be with the many others here.
“She’s in a nursing home now and she rang me to say, ‘I think the Queen is on her way out.’ She was very upset. She followed the Queen all her life, and was in London for one of the cricket matches,’’ says her daughter.
“Lily’s great-granddaughter wrote to the Queen when she was studying World War II at school and told her her great granny was a firefighter during the war here on the road. The Queen very kindly wrote back and told her what her family had done during the war and what their service was. Isn’t that incredible?
“When Rose (great-granddaughter) took it to mummy, I don’t know whether she was more pleased about the letter or seeing her great granddaughter.”
Despite her age and frailty, Lily was in no rush to leave. There are now so many flowers at this memorial, more room was needed. And a message wall set aside is now full.
‘You will always be remembered. You time has been well served. You are an amazing lady,’ one read.
Another simply said, ‘Duty done!’
And peppered throughout a message for the new monarch, ‘Long live the King!’
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Floral tributes to Queen Elizabeth II continue to be laid on the Shankill
Hamilton/Presseye
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Back at Hillsborough, there’s lots still to do ahead of the new sovereign’s arrival on Tuesday.
It’s not the first time he’s been here — but this time the man who spent his life as an heir comes as a King.
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