BILL MCALLISTER: Queen’s death united people

I was on a rooftop pool in Spain when news broke of the Queen’s passing. It was a JFK moment, the end of the Elizabethan era.

A couple of days later I watched on my mobile the proclamation outside Inverness Town House, inside which I had shaken Her Majesty’s hand on her 1985 visit.

You don’t have to be an ardent royalist to admire and respect the Queen’s unique service and devotion to duty -- and the public response in the vigils in Edinburgh and London underlined the deep connection people felt to a remarkable woman.

There can at times be too much pompousness about royal occasions, by jobsworths, but the various ceremonies struck the right note before yesterday’s funeral.

On returning home, I noticed the bunches of flowers placed at the Mercat Cross outside the Town House, localising the mood.

I’m always uneasy about our right to free speech being inhibited, so arresting the lad who shouted in Edinburgh seemed over the top. But it’s been a time when people and communities have come together in sadness, in recognition of history turning a page.

I wish our new King well – he’s got a hard act to follow.

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