Politics put aside as leaders pay tribute to nation’s ‘great unifier’
SCOTLAND’S political leaders paid their respects to the Queen yesterday as her coffin passed by Holyrood.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, Scottish Green co-leader Lorna Slater and Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton stood outside the Scottish parliament as the hearse slowed.
The First Minister paid tribute as the late monarch’s 180-mile journey began in Aberdeenshire at 10am. She said in a tweet: ‘A sad and poignant moment as Her Majesty, The Queen leaves her beloved Balmoral for the final time.
‘Today, as she makes her journey to Edinburgh, Scotland will pay tribute to an extraordinary woman.’
Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone and her deputies Liam McArthur and Annabelle Ewing also took to the street to pay their respects.
As the cortege passed the Scottish parliament, a hush fell over the waiting crowds before a round of applause broke out – with the leaders joining in.
Mr Ross said: ‘I was quite taken aback by how quiet Edinburgh fell as the Queen passed the Scottish parliament.
‘You knew the cortege was very close because there was just a hushed silence. That was respecting ful and then when the cortege had moved on, there was applause and I think that showed the love that people across Scotland had for the late Queen.
‘With the funeral cortege startin beautiful Aberdeenshire, you can see why the Queen loved it so much. I think it showed Scotland in its best light today.’
Mr Sarwar described the Queen as ‘the greatest public servant this country has ever seen’.
‘She was a constant in so many of our lives,’ he told Sky News.
‘This topic divides all the time, but actually she was the great unifier of our nation and I think you can see that love from right across the political spectrum, from right across the communities across Scotland.’
Mr Cole-Hamilton described standing with the other political leaders to pay his respects as ‘an honour’.
He said: ‘Her constancy and devotion to the people of these islands have carried us through many dark times. We are united in grief and in a profound sense of gratitude.’
The procession concluded at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, where the Queen’s children and their spouses – the Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, the Duke of York and the Earl and Countess of Wessex – watched as soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Scotland carried the coffin inside.
‘Showed Scotland in its best light’