UUP Leader Expresses His Grief At The Death Of The Queen

Ulster Unionist Party Leader Doug Beattie has expressed his condolences to "the King, his brothers and sister and the wider family on the death of their mother, their grandmother, their great grandmother, our Queen".

Mr Beattie was speaking during a special commemorative meeting of the Northern Ireland Assembly, ahead of King Charles visit to NI today, Tuesday 13 September.

Mr Beattie continued: "And what a Queen she was - seventy glorious and at times difficult years that heralded a new Elizabethan age, one we never realised we were living through, until now.

"The Queen reigned through massive political, social and economic change. The decline of empire and heavy industry and the rise of the Commonwealth. The cold war and the moon landings, war, terrorism and the growth of the internet.

"Throughout these changes and challenges the Queen remained a constant, creating stability and a National focus."

Mr Beattie added: "There is grief that I feel, and many millions of people around the world are feeling grief as I stand here.

This is not something that I expected because we all knew the Queen was getting frailer and we knew this time would come. Yet watching her just 48 hours before, continuing to do her duty, nobody expected it to come so quickly."

Mr Beattie's full statement from Stormont can be read on the UUP wesbite.