The sombre masses gathered to quietly and respectfully say goodbye to the Queen

EDINBURGH is used to crowds. But the masses who gathered in the capital to see the Queen’s coffin were in a sombre mood, unlike the hordes who partied on the Royal Mile last month.

- ANNA BURNSIDE

There was no weeping or wailing Edinburgh doesn't do that. People dressed in black were either working for the BBC, or goths. This was a city quietly and respectfully gathering to say goodbye.

Many of them were young. These were not wartime survivors turning out to remember the monarch's heroic service.

This was the Paddington generation. They were paying their respects to a Queen whose dignity during the Covid pandemic and wonderful comic turn with the nation's favourite bear during the Platinum Jubilee celebration had won their hearts.

By late morning, they waited 10-deep around the Mercat Cross, opposite the City Chambers. At noon, trumpets sounded. Here was the pomp and ceremony that marks our Royal Family out from the lower key monarchs in the rest of the world.

The Lord Lyon King of Arms declared through a slightly muffled PA system that our Liege Lord Charles Ill was now the king and head of all the Commonwealth.

As he said the words "God Save The King" there was some booing. Someone shouted "Up the Republic".

But the rest of the crowd was in no mood to join in.

A military band struck up God Save The King. A diverse crowd that included tourists, foreign language students, babies in buggies and parents dropping their children off at Edinburgh University had their first shot at singing the national anthem to a male monarch.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar and other politicians and dignitaries watched from a vantage point beside the Heart of Midlothian outside St Giles' Cathedral.