Britain reconciles around Prince Philip of Edinburgh

Parliament has advanced the resumption of its session to pay tribute to Philip of Edinburgh.

Boris Johnson and Labor leader Keir Starmer have agreed to extol the dedication and service of Elizabeth II's husband.

They have agreed to suspend the May local election campaign for a few days.

Just like the Scottish nationalist government, which has also given a truce to its independence message.

The death of the prince consort has sparked a momentary spirit of national reconciliation in the UK.

It has not been a completely unanimous duel.

The BBC, which flooded its programming for hours with archive images of Philip of Edinburgh and multiple statements of praise for his figure, had to open a virtual mailbox for complaints to the avalanche of users who considered the deployment excessive.

But it was the only sign of discord in a country that, during the truce that began on Friday with the announcement of the death of Elizabeth II's husband, has decided to take a bath of national unity.

Right after years of division fueled by Brexit, tension in the streets over the debate over racism or the Johnson Government's new Security Act, and a political climate as polarized as in other nations, the United Kingdom has decided to give itself a British pride bath.

The main newspapers have made extraordinary coverage of the news.

Elegant and respectful covers to extol the virtues of a prince consort who, for years, had his pluses and minuses with journalists.

And whose outbursts and apparent arrogance provoked equally intense loves and hatreds.

“Their marriage was a symbol of strength, stability and hope, despite the fact that the world around them kept changing, especially recently, during the pandemic.

It was a relationship that inspired millions of people in Britain and around the world, ”said opposition leader Starmer in a speech that would hardly have been heard from his predecessor, veteran leftist Jeremy Corbyn.

The most optimistic have come to consider that the duel that the country is experiencing is the ideal occasion for the royal family to rebuild its battered relations and overcome the crisis unleashed after the incendiary interview of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with the American presenter Oprah Winfrey.

“It will be a family reunion to overcome tensions and battered relationships during the funeral.

Something very deep will bring them together again ”, predicted Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, on

Times Radio

.

This Saturday, Prince Charles spoke about his deceased father from his home in Highgrove, in the west of England.

"As you can imagine, my family and I miss my father greatly," whom he referred to as "dear dad" and "a very special person."

The presence at the ceremony of Prince Henry has already been confirmed, who still enjoys an official status that will allow him to relax the rigid quarantine rules imposed in the United Kingdom on travelers from abroad.

Instead, "the doctor has recommended" to the Duchess of Sussex, pregnant with her second child, not to travel, a Buckingham Palace spokesman reported.

41 salutes of honor could be heard this Saturday in cities such as London, Edinburgh, Cardiff or Belfast.

Every minute, starting at noon (one in the afternoon, Spanish peninsular time) cannons rumbled across the country in homage to Philip of Edinburgh.

Despite the government's insistence on asking citizens to refrain from participating in spontaneous rallies, Downing Street has looked the other way to the trail of people who did not stop showing up at the gate of Buckingham Palace or around the Castle from Windsor to deposit flowers or messages.

The Chief Minister of the Scottish Home Rule Government, Nicola Sturgeon, appeared before the cameras in rigorous mourning on Friday to highlight "a life deeply dedicated to public service and an enormous devotion to the Queen", as well as to underline all the ties that had united to the Duke of Edinburgh with Scotland and its citizens.

The Scottish National Party, which Sturgeon chairs, is embarking on an electoral campaign with the only message of a new independence referendum.

However, it agreed, with the rest of the parties, to suspend the political and pre-electoral tension to render a duel to the prince consort.

Johnson, who was scheduled to go to a

London

pub

on Monday

and have a pint in front of the media to celebrate the first phase of the de-escalation, has suspended his plans.

In return, he will be the first to speak in an extraordinary session of the House of Commons dedicated exclusively to the deputies paying a final tribute to Philip of Edinburgh.

The official funeral, Saturday at Windsor Castle

The coffin with the mortal remains of Felipe de Edimburgo will leave the main entrance of Windsor Castle at 2:45 p.m. (3:45 p.m., Spanish peninsular time) next Saturday, carried by a group of faithful that will include his personal secretary, one of his bodyguards , two of his assistants and two other of his butlers. On the coffin will rest the personal banner of Elizabeth II's husband, his Navy officer's cap and his sword. A band of grenadier guards will lead the funeral procession.

The religious ceremony will take place in St George's Chapel, on the castle grounds, and will be officiated jointly by the Dean of Windsor and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Before, at three o'clock, a minute of silence will be observed throughout the country.

In line with the rules of confinement, only thirty people will attend a funeral, which, however, will be partly broadcast on British public television.