Long live the king or not? It all depends on the area of Belfast. The capital of Northern Ireland marked by thirty years of conflict between Unionists and Republicans – often reduced to a war between Catholics and Anglicans. At the foot of a huge mural in homage to the late Queen Elizabeth II, loyalist side, therefore, a mountain of bouquets of flowers.
“Mom, are we going to see the king?” asks seven-year-old Penny. Her mother will not put her in school, this Tuesday, September 13, so as not to miss the visit of Charles III – a moment in history five days after the death of Elizabeth II. The new sovereign arrives from Edinburgh where the Scots have paid their last respects to the Queen.
In these streets where the Union Jack flutters in the wind, we still do not understand that some inhabitants of the Catholic neighborhoods could celebrate the death of the queen. “The night he died, a few blocks away, they had fireworks, they had a partysays Penny’s mother. This is inappropriate.”
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Very close to here, Falls Road – Republican district. “Charles is not my king“says Cory, a 23-year-old electrician. He considers himself not to be “in Northern Ireland here, but in Ireland at all.”
A mother pulls her child by the sleeve. She doesn’t want to hear about the monarchy either: “Too many bad memories.” In fact, these days one hardly dares to evoke between neighbors the death of the queen and the arrival of Charles III. “There is still a kind of silence, the unspoken, a little taboo, we are very afraid of offending”explains Claire Moran, who lives in a mixed neighborhood and teaches French at the University of Belfast.
In Northern Ireland, at one point, we forgot the conflict and there, it comes back and we see that it never really left
Claire Moran, French teacher at the University of Belfastat franceinfo
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Above all, no bad jokes so as not to offend anyone. But in the pubs of Belfast, tongues are loosened. “Fuck the king, fuck the king and fuck the queen.” No real need to translate Tony’s insults. “Leave us alone”asks the Irishman.
Peter adds that England is, for him, “A strange country” and that'”as Commander-in-Chief, the new King Charles continues to bear responsibility for the bloody sunday“. This Sunday, January 30, 1972, 14 civil rights activists, including seven teenagers, were killed by the British army in the repression of a peaceful demonstration in Derry. Peter hopes Scotland will vote for independence next year, setting an example for Northern Ireland.
In Northern Ireland, the visit of Charles III divides the inhabitants of Belfast. The franceinfo report by Agathe Mahuet
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