Belfast remembers queen, ahead of new king's visit

Preparations were underway in Belfast on Monday ahead of King Charles III's first visit as monarch in a national tour during his first days on the throne.

The new king was expected to attend several commemorative events for his late mother Queen Elizabeth II in Northern Ireland's capital on Tuesday.

The status of the monarchy has always been fraught in Northern Ireland, where there are two main communities: unionists who consider themselves British and nationalists who see themselves as Irish.

That split fuelled decades of violence known as “The Troubles” and remains a deep divide.

But in a sign of how far Northern Ireland has come on the road to peace, representatives of the Irish Republican Army-linked party Sinn Fein are attending some of the events in Belfast.