Michelle O'Neill says that in going to the King Charles coronation she was fulfilling a promise to be 'first minister for all'

The News Letter spoke to Ms O'Neill as she emerged from the ceremony to crown King Charles at Westminster Abbey.Speaking from under an umbrella in the rain, she said: "Well obviously I wanted to be here. We live in changing times and it was the respectful thing to do, to show respect and to be here for all those people at home, who I had said I would be a first minister for all. "Attendance here is about honouring that and fulfilling my promise."

The News Letter asked Ms O'Neill her feeling about the actual service."Well I think it was important to be here. Obviously there are many people watching on and for whom this is a very significant day and I wanted to be respectful of that."When further asked about the allegiance moments and the anthem moments in the ceremony, she said: "I think in life we all should be respectful and you know I have a different political allegiance but that is OK, we should be respectful of each other."

Sinn Fein's nominee for Stormont speaker Alex Maskey said that when he was elected speaker he made "a very strong commitment, that I wanted to make sure that I represented everyone, as far as I possibly could".He added: "So therefore I am glad that I came along here this morning to this particular event. It is not my background, it is not my historical understanding of life but nevertheless a lot of people do appreciate that and respect this and the monarchy".

The News Letter spoke to Mr Maskey at Luton Airport on Friday as he travelled over for the ceremony, and he sidestepped a question about whether or not he had had a negative reaction from some republicans as to Sinn Fein's attendance.