Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday. She was the longest-ruling monarch in British history, and billions of people all over the world knew her face right away. She was 96 years old.
In a short statement, Buckingham Palace said that she had died. This led to 10 days of national mourning and a flood of tributes to her long life and record-breaking reign.
Buckingham Palace released a statement at 6:30 pm saying, “The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon” (1730 GMT).
“The King and Queen Consort will spend the night at Balmoral and go back to London tomorrow.”
Charles, Prince of Wales, the oldest of her four children, will become King right away. At 73, he is the oldest heir apparent in British history.
Thursday, the palace said that doctors were “concerned” about the queen’s health and thought she should stay in the hospital. On Friday, the queen died.
All of her children, including Charles, Princess Anne, who is 72, Prince Andrew, who is 62, and Prince Edward, who is 58, went to Balmoral, her home in the Scottish Highlands.
Charles’s sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, who had been estranged for a long time, also came.
Two days before, the queen named Liz Truss as the 15th prime minister of her reign. In pictures, she was smiling, but she looked old and was using a walking stick.
One picture of the meeting made people worried because it showed that the monarch’s right hand had a deep purple bruise on it.
In 1952, after World War II, Queen Elizabeth II took the throne at the age of 25. At the time, political figures like China’s Mao Zedong, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, and US president Dwight D. Eisenhower ruled the world.
During her 70-year rule, which spanned two centuries, there were huge changes in society, politics, and technology.
The last bits and pieces of Britain’s huge empire fell apart. At home, Brexit shook her kingdom to its core, and her family had to deal with a string of scandals.
She was queen and head of state not only of the United Kingdom, but also of 14 former British colonies, including Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Despite this, she was always very popular.
She was also the head of the Commonwealth, which is made up of 56 countries and has a quarter of the world’s population. She was also the supreme governor of the Church of England, which is the mother church of the Anglican communion around the world.
But people will wonder if the golden age of the British monarchy is over, how an old institution can survive in the modern world, and if Charles will get the same respect or rule in the shadow of his mother.
– National day of mourning –
TV and radio stations stopped what they were doing to tell people the news. Special schedules had been planned in advance to honour her long life and reign.
“God Save the Queen,” the national song, was played. To remember a woman who was once called the “last global monarch,” flags were lowered and church bells were rung.
The national period of mourning will end with a public goodbye at Westminster Abbey in the centre of London.
Charles’ coronation will be a complicated ceremony with a lot of history and tradition. It will take place in the same historic setting as it has for hundreds of years, on a date that has not yet been set.
– Living longer –
Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was the only monarch that most of her subjects had ever known. Her face was on stamps, banknotes, and coins, so it was impossible to change.
She was small, but she was a pop culture icon. She was easy to spot in her brightly coloured suits, matching hats, pearls, gloves, and handbags.
During her reign, the royals went from being stiff and far away to being the focus of tabloids. They then became popular again through shows like “The Crown,” which tens of millions of people around the world watch.
From the Cold War to the 9/11 attacks, from climate change to the coronavirus, from “snail mail” and steam ships to email and space travel, a lot changed while she was on the throne.
She was seen as a living symbol of Britain after World War II and a link between the present and the past.
She was the mother of one of the most famous families in the world, and she always had a lot of support from the public. Even after Charles’ first wife, Diana, died in 1997, people still liked her a lot.
More recently, Prince Harry and his mixed-race wife Meghan said that there was racism in the royal family.
She also had to deal with a scandal involving her second son, Prince Andrew. Because he was friends with convicted sex offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, he had to pay a settlement in the US for sexual assault.
“None of us are going to live forever.”
When she lost her husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in April 2021, everyone in Britain knew that her reign was coming to an end.
But the palace had known for a long time that she was going to die, and the changeover to Charles was well under way.
He, his oldest son Prince William, who is now the heir, and his wife, Catherine, started to take on more of the queen’s official duties.
The coronavirus pandemic and the fact that she was getting old forced her to move to the beautiful castle of Windsor, west of London.
But from behind its stately walls, she stayed a reassuring presence, popping up on video calls with people from the public.
In a rare televised speech during the first lockdown, she talked about how her generation was shaped by the “Blitz spirit” of Britain under attack during World War II.
She said, “We’ll see each other again.”
She threw off the cloak of Philip’s death and her forced isolation to return to her public duties, but age and illness made her slow down.
After an unplanned night in the hospital in October 2021 for unknown health tests, she didn’t show up as often.
Soon after, she told world leaders at a UN climate change summit, “None of us will live forever.” She urged them to leave something for future generations.
One of her last big decisions was to give her approval for Charles’ second wife, Camilla, to be called “queen consort.” This answered a question that had been left unanswered about the succession.
