Public gets chance to view queen’s coffin in Edinburgh

Queen Elizabeth II’s grandson Prince Harry hailed her Monday as a “guiding compass” and praised her “unwavering grace and dignity,” as members of the public were to get the chance to pay their respects to the monarch when her coffin lies at rest at St. Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh.

The personal statement, posted on Harry and his wife Meghan’s Archwell website, maintained he cherished their times together “from my earliest childhood memories with you, to meeting you for the first time as my Commander-in-Chief, to the first moment you met my darling wife and hugged your beloved great-grandchildren.”

Amid acrimony in the House of Windsor, Harry quit as a senior royal and moved to the U.S. two years ago. On Saturday, there was a possible sign of reconciliation as Harry and Meghan joined his brother Prince William and sister-in-law Catherine in meeting mourners outside Windsor Castle.

Harry issued the statement at the start of another day steeped in the historic pageantry and pomp that follows the death of a British sovereign. King Charles III was starting the day speaking to lawmakers at Parliament in London before flying to Scotland.

Hundreds of Parliament members crowded into the 1,000-year-old Westminster Hall at the Houses of Parliament for a service in which Parliament will offer its condolences to the king, who will have to reply.