Sandra Chapman: History will record that handshake between King Charles III and Sinn Fein deputy leader, Michelle O’Neill

We have seen our new King in tears, his siblings shell-shocked but nobly doing their duty to ensure an adored mother is sent to her well-earned rest, something they have had to share with the entire world.

A headline ‘The quiet power of the Princess Royal’ would have pleased her mother. It’s what daughters do, hold the reins while the sons hide their grief in practical ways, such as fussing over the coffin, lifting it into the church, setting it down again beside a prepared grave. It’s then that their hankies come out as reality hits them. It really is the last goodbye.

Here in Northern Ireland we’ve been part of that British history.

One day in the far future the young of today will be recalling the events of the past week, how a Prince rapidly became a King then proceeded to visit his Kingdom taking in not just the part of Ireland he reigns over but the other part which his ancestors fought over.

They will read of how the leaders in the southern part of Ireland came to welcome the new King and say goodbye to the one they too had known, the one who visited them in peaceful times, the one they respected, the one who made a point of speaking the Irish language.

History will record how the Sinn Fein leader in the Ulster Assembly Michelle O’Neill kindly reached out two hands to the new British King one who had suffered sorely when his much loved family member Earl Mountbatten was killed by the IRA while fishing harmlessly in the South of Ireland. Did that awful event breed contrition which eventually led to the peace process?

DUP minister Gordon Lyons told the Assembly earlier this week that the Queen ‘went to extraordinary lengths to personally promote forgiveness and reconciliation on this island’.

Ms O’Neill said she ‘recognised her as a courageous and gracious leader’.

Maybe the late Queen’s example will inspire those who wish to take Ulster out of her Kingdom to remember how much she achieved through love, patience and respect, qualities her successor offers.

King Charles is not the warrior type and no doubt he will do his best to enhance peace and reconciliation here.

Michelle O’Neill may have found a good listening ear in the new King – her two-handed handshake though may not have gone down well with the Nationalist community – but the late Queen showed that gentility, gentleness and generosity make for good political thinking and we can all learn from that.

I grew up in that era after the Second World War world when Royalty was idolised despite the poverty and destruction caused by the war. If things were bad in the North, I was always aware that life was much harder in the south of Ireland which hadn’t been in the war. In those days Royalty were disrespected in the South. Remarkably, over the decades, they grew to respect the Queen.

Frankly, I did not expect to see political leaders in the south and the north speak so respectfully of Her late Majesty this week. Nor did I expect to see Taoiseach Micheal Martin in St Anne’s Cathedral.

King Charles responded: ‘Through all those years (of the Troubles) she never ceased to pray for the best of times for this place and for its people, whose stories and sorrows our family had felt and for whom she had a great affection and regard’.

In St Anne’s Cathedral Catholic Archbishop Eamon Martin prayed, which shows just how far this province has come. I’m certain Her late Majesty would have been impressed. One day again there may be a British Queen. That little girl who likes to dance around her garden for her proud dad, now the Prince of Wales, is in the new line-up.