my husband and i were with the queen before dinner when the drawing room light started to flicker. to my great alarm, he was after all in the presence of her majesty, my husband suddenly leapt up and darted across the room. peter had spotted the cause of the flickering light. one of the queen s young corgis, a beautiful pup called sandy, was eating through a lamp switch. thankfully, tragedy was averted and sandy emerged unscathed. though not before a stern ticking off from his mistress. just like all my predecessors as first minister, and all prime ministers, i deeply valued the time i spent alone with the queen. her words of wisdom, counsel, and humor will stay in my heart for the rest of my life. however, the memory i cherish
particularly balmoral. balmoral, of course, which was her private house, it belonged to the queen herself, not to the monarchy. and it has always been the place that she loved to spend summers. it s where she and the family could go and to the extent that the queen can never really relax, it was a place they could relax. there was enough land for her to get out, drive around the estate, walk around the estate. the families had picnics on the estate. when you re queen and under a magnifying glass 24/7 for 70 years, it s not surprising that if you can find a place where you can have a little bit of anonymity and a little bit of normalcy, you re going to cling to that place. it s stunningly beautiful. balmoral, that area of scotland, it s near where my husband s family lives and it s one of the most beautiful places you can imagine and she loved that. she loved the hunting that took place there. she loved the hiking. some of the best stories i think that we ve heard about the queen re
legendary. we heard hymns the queen herself would sing at her local church in balmoral. a hymn that was played, john, at the queen s wedding to the late her late husband philip. incredibly moving and poignant, i think, is the word i keep hearing from so many scots here today, that in many ways the queen died in skcotland, moving for them to be part of her last of a great last journey as we wait, of course, for her coffin to move to london. that is expected to happen tomorrow. in the meantime, people lining the streets here to really pay their final respects to their queen, and we expect to see a vigil later on tonight by members of the royal family, including, of course, king charles iii. isa soares for us in edinburgh, remarkable scene. thank you for kicking it off. with me to share insights on this remarkable moment and the week ahead, our cnn distributor,
so you see, the love of scotland and the royal family have been inextricably linked just about forever. one of the reasons julius caesar was so interested in scotland was because of the scottish pearl. you have all that history linked to royalty and scotland, and it said that the queen planned her death. it was a good death. we have to recognize that. as painful, as sorrowful, as much as we re mourning, she planned her death. and it s no mistake that she chose to die in scotland, in her beloved balmoral, and have the princess anne accompany her coffin. i think if that doesn t say anything about the queen s relationship with scotland, then nothing does. it is quite remarkable. we ll have more time later around special events, but let s talk about the other side.
today s ceremonies honoring queen elizabeth ii are taking place in one of her favorite parts of the united kingdom, scotland. thousands, again, lined up along the royal mile to get a glimpse of their new king as he led a royal procession behind his mother s coffin. and this was the scene on sunday as thousands gathered to watch the queen s coffin being transferred from balmoral to edinburgh. the ties between the king and scotland run deep. she spent every summer at balmoral castle. her mother was scottish and she visited the country for her silver, gold and diamond jubilees. it s fitting that she spent her final days in the place he loved