North’s VIP Brexiteers out in force as queen unveils statue to war hero

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip spent a day on the scenic north coast yesterday, much of it in the North Antrim constituency that recorded the highest turnout for the Leave side in the Brexit referendum – 30,938 Leavers against 18,782 Remainers.

The previous evening she held separate audiences with Arlene Foster and Martin McGuinness at Hillsborough Castle. If she had anything to say to them about the UK voting to leave the European Union, the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, sticklers for British royal protocol, weren't telling us.

Some of the freelance journalists covering the visit to the Giant's Causeway, Bushmills, Coleraine and Bellarena were requested by US and continental media outlets "to chase the queen for a quote about Brexit", which the reporters found amusing. As if.

In Bushmills, the queen was confronted by a who's who of Northern Brexiteers. In the VIP front rows were Northern Secretary Theresa Villiers, Ms Foster, Ian Paisley jnr, Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister, and other politicians such as Mervyn Storey and from the Ulster Unionist Party, MLA Robin Swann and Lord Rogan – all trenchant Leavers.

It was a damp and cold day, the sort of occasion when a nip of the famous local produce, Black Bush whiskey could have provided fortification for the royal visitors. However, they weren't in Bushmills to visit the distillery, but to honour local man Sgt Robert Quigg who won the Victoria Cross for gallantry 100 years ago at the Battle of the Somme.

Sgt Quigg, as his grandnephew Leonard Quigg explained, volunteered to head into "no man's land" to try to find Lieut Sir Harry Macnaghten who was missing in action. Seven times he risked his life under machine gun fire from the Germans and seven times he brought back wounded British soldiers. The body of Lt Macnaghten, a member of a big local landlord family, was never found.

Sgt Quigg received the VC, Britain's highest award for bravery, from King George V in 1917. In 1953, two years before he died and very shortly into her reign, he met the king's grand-daughter, Queen Elizabeth.

The queen unveiled a bronze statue of Sgt Quigg created by Scottish sculptor David Annand and met members of the Quigg family.

Leonard Quigg, a retired headmaster of Coleraine Academical Institution, said it was a “great and remarkable” day for the Quigg family and the general area. He was “very disappointed” by the vote for Brexit. “I think some people may regret it,” he added, “but it’s done, it’s done and we’ll go on from there.”

However, others canvassed for their views were largely in the out camp. "I think we need change," said Philip Hill, who lives in a cottage opposite the Quigg statue on Main Street and works in Belfast Metropolitan College.

He spoke of farmers being paid to grow nothing. “We might get a few proper-looking tomatoes and fruit back on the shelves now instead of them having to be all perfectly European,” he added.

It was “too much European bureaucracy” that rankled with him. “Too many hard hats. You couldn’t put a nail in the wall without being told what to do. Common sense did not match the Common Market.”

Brian Brown (28), an Orangeman from nearby Dervock, also voted Leave. "I just felt that Britain was stronger on its own. I am not racist, I am not against people coming into the country, but I feel there are too many people coming in to gain benefits, the system is being abused," he said.

It also annoyed him that European courts could override British courts. “What’s the point of having your own laws if they are going to be overruled by Europe?” While there might be financial turmoil and uncertainty for a while, he felt everything would settle down and that the union would be stronger.

Gillian McConnell and James McConaghie, principal and chairman of the board of governors respectively of the 112-pupil Straidbilly primary school near Bushmills, did not want to divulge how they voted.

What was important now was “to make the best decision for this generation here”, said Ms McConnell, pointing to her excited P7 final-year primary children she had brought along to see the queen.

“Everybody has to pull together now and if they do, we’ll get through this,” said Mr McConaghie. “The country has decided and we have got to live with it.”