The Scots pay tribute to Elizabeth II on her last trip from Balmoral to Edinburgh: "Always Queen in our hearts"

• United Kingdom The dark clouds that lie in wait for the new king: from Scottish independence to the explosive memories of his wayward son Harry

• Direct Mourning for Queen Elizabeth II

• Album Images of the day: the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II leaves Balmoral Castle

"They say that people make places, and nowhere is that more true than in Scotland"... The words of Elizabeth II, dismissed en masse as

resounded

under a background of bagpipes and military salutes on its final journey of 280 kilometers from

to

.

The oak coffin with the mortal remains of the monarch -wrapped in the Scottish banner- left Balmoral Castle this Sunday morning at the head of a procession of six hearses that descended for six hours from their beloved Highlands to the Palace of Holyrood.

Sometimes a respectful silence, other times a spontaneous explosion of applause, surrounded the funeral procession through

,

,

and

, with an obligatory stop at the granite parish of Crathie Kirk where the monarch was just a week ago to attend, without knowing it, to what would be his last mass.

"It's been a part of our lives for so long it's still hard to believe," confessed

, 36, taking position on Edinburgh's royal mile with his two-year-old daughter,

, on his shoulders.

"We named the girl after her grandmother, who received her name on her day in honor of the Queen. She was like part of our family, we all awaited her arrival in Scotland as a ritual every summer".

Father and daughter came for the third time to leave flowers at the gate of Hollyrood Palace before the arrival of the coffin, with an emotional dedication: "Always Queen in our hearts".

"The girl is still small, but I am sure that she will remember this moment all her life," Samuel stressed.

"For the Scots it is an unrepeatable moment, of great sadness and deep gratitude at the same time. I believed that she chose to silently say goodbye to this world in the place that she loved the most."

First monarch to die in Scotland

Elizabeth II is the first British monarch to die in Scotland since the

of 1707. Given her predilection for Balmoral Castle, where she spent up to three months a year, the so-called

was created , the device she planned until last detail everything that would happen if the monarch died in the residence where she felt "more herself", far from the madding crowd, at the foot of the Cairngorms mountains and at the gates of the Eastern Highlands.

These days the anecdote is told of the day that the Queen, on one of her walks through the countryside, was approached by some American tourists who asked her if she was a local and if she lived there.

They took a

with her and left so cool without recognizing her.

The monarch then joked with her bodyguard: "I would like to be the fly on the wall who sees the face her friends make when they show them the photos of her trip to Scotland"...

"Scotland was always something special for Elizabeth II, and the queen was always something special for Scots," said Chief Minister

, in the front row as the funeral procession arrived in Edinburgh.

Sturgeon has soaked her pro-independence pretensions these days and has thanked the queen for her "wise advice from her" and her "devotion and love from her towards Scotland".

The Scots are, in fact, the least supportive of the monarchy in the United Kingdom (barely

, compared to more than

in the country as a whole), but Elizabeth II always had a very personal depth beyond political disputes.

Carlos III, who also spends long periods in the Scottish residence of Birkhall, will have to make a titanic effort, however, beyond wearing the tartan with panache, to be able to take the witness of his "unique" mother of him.

The last trip

The new king was "proclaimed" on Sunday in Scotland, and also in

and

, coinciding with the long journey of the funeral procession.

Charles will arrive in Edinburgh on Monday, to join the procession and vigil for Elizabeth II at St. Giles Cathedral, where the funeral chapel will be installed for 24 hours before his final journey to London on Tuesday, with Princess

accompanying to the coffin

Next week, for three days, the British will be able to say their last goodbye to the monarch in

, before the funeral of the 19th in the abbey.

That very day will be her last journey, until the final arrival of her remains in the crypt of St. George's Chapel in Windsor, where she will be buried next to the tomb of

...

"A queen full of dignity, passion and grace."

"An oasis of calm in a world of chaos."

"Thank you for her dedication and her constant presence in our lives."

"In memory of an inspiring, loyal and tolerant woman."

"Life is like a book, and this has been the longest and brightest of all."

Bear

).

Hollyrood Palace in Edinburgh, something like the Buckingham of the North, has become these days the breakwater of the Scots, who yesterday came in waves waiting for the funeral procession.

and

, sisters "in their 40s" and residents of Glasgow, took the train at the last minute and decided to push their way past the tourists and admirers on the royal mile.

"We are 'Elizabethians'"

"We're not strictly monarchical, but

," confesses Beth.

"She always seemed to us to be a woman with her feet on the ground, surely because of her mother's Scottish ancestors, from which she also had a sense of humor and her knowledge of being her own. It was easy to recognize someone from the family".

"And it was a guarantee of stability in the face of the ineptitude of politicians," says Sheena, a nurse at a public hospital.

"The country is failing, more than six million patients are on the waiting list and the National Health System has more than

vacancies that cannot be filled. How do you explain this? It was perhaps a wink of fate that your death occurred at such a critical moment and two days after a change of government. She did her best... But what a cake Carlos has left!"

Nadine Morrison

, 71, unfolded her portable chair four hours before the royal mile procession arrived and killed time reading Bella Mackie's

.

"Maybe it's not the most appropriate reading for this moment, a satire about a dysfunctional family, but I need a little distraction to get back to normal," admits Nadine.

"We are still in free fall, as if the ground had opened," acknowledged the retired teacher.

"We need something to hold on to, and I'm doing it with my grandchildren. My family didn't want to come, but maybe they'll join me later. I wanted to be here because I feel very grateful to this woman, for everything she has done. represented throughout my life. It's incredible to think that I was barely a year old when she put on the crown. I try to remember it, but I don't go that far."

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

• London

• Philip of Edinburgh

• United Kingdom

• independence scotland

• Articles Carlos Fresneda

• Elizabeth II of England

• King Charles III of England