The King is making his first visit to Northern Ireland since becoming monarch, as he continues his tour of the UK following the death of the Queen.
He left on a flight with Queen Consort Camilla from Edinburgh to Belfast on Tuesday morning. He is to meet political and religious leaders before attending a service of reflection at the city’s St Anne’s Cathedral. The visit is the first by a British king in 80 years, although as the Prince of Wales he visited the region 39 times.
The tour comes at a time of political uncertainty for Northern Ireland with the Stormont assembly still paralysed by the Democratic Unionist Party’s refusal to form a new government following May’s local elections.
As part of his historic visit on Tuesday the King is set to meet the leaders of the five largest parties at Stormont, including Sinn Féin’s deputy leader Michelle O’Neill, before receiving a message of condolence from the speaker of the Stormont, Alex Maskey.
He is also due to attend a reception at Hillsborough Castle, hosted by new Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris, before a possible walkabout.
Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney, who is set to attend the service of reflection along with the Irish president and prime minister, described the Queen as an “extraordinary woman”.
He added on BBC Radio that the Queen “played not only a remarkable leadership role for the United Kingdom and across the Commonwealth” but was “somebody who did an awful lot towards the end of her reign for Anglo-Irish relations”.
Hundreds of people gathered in the village of Royal Hillsborough in Co Down ahead of the arrival of the King and Queen Consort.
Large numbers also congregated at the village’s Main Street near Hillsborough Castle, the official royal residence in Northern Ireland.
Michael Poots, principal of Downshire primary school in Hillsborough, said: “Forty children have been very fortunate to be picked to go into the castle and meet the new King and Queen.
The rest of the children will be on the roadside waving and cheering as they go past. We feel as a village very honoured that they have chosen to come here, especially in these very sad times, especially for the King.
“It means a lot to us all and the close links that we have with the royal family in the village.”
The DUP has said it won’t restore power sharing in the region until the Government changes the contentious Northern Ireland Protocol, which sets post-Brexit trading arrangements for the region.
A bill scrapping parts of the protocol is currently passing through Parliament.
This has once again raised tensions between London and Brussels over Brexit, although hopes have been raised for a negotiated settlement with European Commission president Maros Sefcovic saying the EU would be prepared to reduce physical customs checks on goods travelling from Britain to Northern Ireland.
But if the row over the protocol can’t be resolved Northern Ireland could face a fresh assembly election.
