King Charles III in Belfast: Proud day for invited guests from groups with links to royal family

Cries of ‘God Save The King’ rang out as Charles and Camilla arrived and after they emerged from the short service to commemorate his late mother, The Queen, those well wishes were repeated, perhaps even louder, along with a few rousing renditions of the national anthem.

The King and Queen Consort spent around five minutes after the service talking to a small number of invited guests in Writer’s Square.

The guests including members of groups and organisations with connections to the Royal family with those invitations being co-ordinated by the Northern Ireland Office.

Many youth organisations of which the Queen is patron like the Boys Brigade, Girls Brigade and the Scouts were there. So too were community organisations with a royal connection or who have supported royal visits in the past.

Also welcomed to Writer’s Square were pupils from schools with royal ties including Belfast Royal Academy (BRA) and Royal Belfast Academical Institution (Inst).

Hazelwood Integrated College were also invited as the school played a part in assisting with proceedings.

Andrew Greer, James Taylor and Neil McKay from 1st Cookstown Boys Brigade are among the last members of the organisation to receive the Queen’s Badge, which they proudly displayed today.

James said: “There’s been a lot of cheer and excitement for the King’s arrival.

“We’re hoping he’ll provide the same support and be a unifying figure like his mother was.”

Captain Robert Park said: “Last year we had eight boys receive the Queen’s Badge, it’s a real honour to have a representation here.

“The Queen of course was our patron and the royal connection will continue.”

Friends William Robinson, 15, from Ballymacarrett and Jay Patterson, 14, from Ballynafeigh were representing the Junior Orange Order.

Jay said: “We were invited through the Junior County Lodge of Ireland.

“It’s a pretty historical day for Northern Ireland so I decided to come down.”

Brothers in Scouting David Douglas from 4th Portadown and Cameron Bates from 2nd Bangor met for the first time yesterday.

“That’s what Scouting is all about – meeting new people,” said Cameron.

David said it was a privilege to be invited and to share a space with so many great organisations.

NHS workers Naomi Simpson, Pamela Seifert and Elaine Maguire were among those who shared a few words with the new King and Queen Consort.

Elaine said of her chat with Camilla: “I said you look very well considering you must be exhausted.

“She said she’s feeling it in her feet the most.

“We had a bit of a laugh about wearing heels.”

Naomi who spoke to King Charles said: “He thanked us for coming and we passed on our condolences.”

Pamela added: “It was lovely to meet him and pass on our condolences.”

Nurse Michelle Eaves and occupational therapist Katie Lee also met the royal couple.

Michelle said: “You see them all the time on TV but it’s just so surreal when they’re walking towards you.”

Of the King, Katie said: “They’ve just been so busy I’m not sure he’s even had time to properly grieve.”

Another trio who met Charles and Camilla were from the Scouting organisation – Aaron Coates, 5th Ballymena, Vicky Flanagan, programme and development manager, and Cameron Bates, 2nd Bangor.

Vicky said: “When he spoke with me he acknowledged the works which Scouts NI does for young people and that we need to try to encourage more young people to get involved and the struggle to get more adult volunteers. He really gets the work we’re doing.”

Cameron said: “It was quite historical, my family have met him before around 20 years ago receiving awards from the Queen and from Charles.”

Aaron said: “He shook my hand and I said it was nice to meet him. He did give quite a firm handshake which I found surprising given the number of people he was meeting.”

DUP MP Jim Shannon was inside St Anne’s for what he said was “a very poignant occasion”.

The Strangford representative said: “It was a mixture of celebration and sadness.

“Sadness that our Queen has passed and celebration of her life of service that she gave to the country, to all of its citizens, and also her commitment to our Lord and Saviour. We all know she had a very strong Christian faith which sustain her and kept her going.

“It was a wonderful, wonderful occasion, during which we were able to celebrate our Queen.

“I was pleased to be representing the constituency of Strangford and all of those citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland who love their Queen.”

Mr Shannon added: “It was one of those days when Northern Ireland shared in the sadness and shared also in the celebration of a lady who has served this country well and who we all loved.

“She was really one of our family members, one whom we were very pleased to have as our Queen.

“We now look forward to the new generation of King Charles.

“We feel his sadness and his sorrow but we also look forward to a new beginning.

“He will be someone who will lead the country well, his commitment to the Protestant faith, to helping everyone in this great culturally open United Kingdom is something that we particularly look forward to as well.”