New monarch gives impetus to Scotland's independence debate

EDINBURGH－Queen Elizabeth II's death in Scotland indelibly associates the nation with the handover to a new monarch, but her passing also reignites the debate over Scottish independence from the UK.

Thousands of people stood for hours on Sunday to see the 96-year-old's coffin arrive from her Balmoral estate at Edinburgh's Palace of Holyroodhouse, and the formal proclamation of Charles as king.

But there is a strong vein of republicanism in Scotland, and a few heckles could be heard amid the crowds massed along the Royal Mile.