After Edinburgh, King Charles III goes to Belfast. In a United Kingdom where the monarch plays the symbolic role of unifying figure, the new king of Great Britain and Northern Ireland arguably has a taller order here than in Scotland, where nationalists so far want to keep the crown with or without independence.
Charles fully understands what is at stake: as prince of Wales, he visited Northern Ireland 39 times. He lived through the Troubles, saw his late mother play the role of reconciler during an historic state visit to Dublin in 2011, and grasps what may be a turning point today with nationalists for the first time edging out unionists in recent regional assembly elections. Those unionists have since boycotted Northern Ireland's power-sharing government.
