New monarch gives impetus to Scotland's independence debate

EDINBURGH－Queen Elizabeth II's death in Scotland indelibly associates the nation with the handover to a new monarch, but her passing also reignites the debate over Scottish independence from the UK.

Thousands of people stood for hours on Sunday to see the 96-year-old's coffin arrive from her Balmoral estate at Edinburgh's Palace of Holyroodhouse, and the formal proclamation of Charles as king.

But there is a strong vein of republicanism in Scotland, and a few heckles could be heard amid the crowds massed along the Royal Mile.

One 22-year-old woman was detained for a breach of the peace for holding a placard with an obscene anti-monarchy slogan just before the proclamation, while there was also some booing.

For some in the crowd, Elizabeth－and her son King Charles III－represent the strength of the United Kingdom of Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales.

She was "one of the things that held (the UK) together", noted Archie Nicol, 67, who had earlier paid his respects at the royal Balmoral estate where the queen died on Thursday.

Yet many others who expressed their admiration for the late monarch saw it as separate from their desire to have an independent nation. "The queen clearly had a respect for Scotland," said Nicola Sandilands, 46, a primary school teacher.

"The royal family is as much Scottish as they are anything else," she said, while urging them to become "more relevant and current".

However, she acknowledged that the monarch's death "will maybe make it easier to become a republic".

"Some Scots will consider this end of an era a natural moment for a fresh start," Scottish journalist Alex Massie wrote in The Times.

The governing Scottish National Party, or SNP, which wants another independence referendum following the 2014 "no" vote, is not calling for a republic. The party's founder, Alex Salmond, coined the term "Queen of Scots" and built close ties with Charles.

And SNP First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was quick to express her "deepest condolences" when the queen died, praising her "extraordinary dedication and service".

But the transition to another monarch based in England－albeit one educated at a Scottish boarding school, with several Scottish residences and a penchant for kilts－risks fraying ties.

"The Union is probably in more jeopardy now she is gone," journalist Andrew Neil wrote in the Daily Mail newspaper.

"King Charles will love Scotland just as much as the queen. But he simply doesn't have her authority."

Meanwhile, Antigua and Barbuda also plans to hold a referendum on becoming a republic within the next three years, the Caribbean nation's prime minister told British media on Saturday, a move that could see King Charles removed as its head of state.

"This is a matter that has to be taken to a referendum ... within the next, probably, three years," Prime Minister Gaston Browne told ITV News.

Agencies Via Xinhua