Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-serving monarch in British historical past and an icon immediately recognisable to billions of folks around the globe, died at her Scottish Highland retreat on Thursday. She was 96. The eldest of her 4 youngsters, Charles, Prince of Wales, who at 73 is the oldest inheritor obvious in British historical past, grew to become king instantly.
Royal officers confirmed he is now often known as King Charles III — the primary king of that identify to take a seat on the throne since 1685.
His mom’s demise triggered an outpouring of condolences throughout the globe as world leaders paid homage to a lady whose reign spanned 70 years, straddling two centuries of seismic social, political and technological upheaval.
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‘A moment of the greatest sadness for me’ – King Charles III
In his first phrases as monarch, Charles referred to as her demise “a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family”.
“We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved Mother,” he added in a press release signed “His Majesty the King”.
“I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth and by countless people around the world.”
Buckingham Palace introduced the queen’s demise in a brief assertion, triggering 10 days of nationwide mourning and a worldwide outpouring of tributes to her lengthy life and record-breaking reign.
“The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,” stated the assertion issued at 6:30 pm (1730 GMT).
“The King (Charles) and The Queen Consort (Camilla) will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.”
From the steps of 10 Downing Street, Prime Minister Liz Truss — who realized of the demise two hours earlier than it was introduced — mourned “the passing of the second Elizabethan age” almost 500 years after the primary.
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Seismic change
“God save the king,” she concluded, in phrases not uttered in Britain since 1952.
The queen’s demise got here after the palace introduced earlier on Thursday that docs have been “concerned” for her well being and really useful she keep below medical supervision.
All her youngsters — Charles, Princess Anne, 72, Prince Andrew, 62, and Prince Edward, 58 — flocked to her Scottish Highland retreat, Balmoral.
They have been joined by Charles’s elder son, Prince William, and William’s estranged brother Prince Harry.
Andrew, Edward and William have been photographed arriving at round 5:00 pm, after the queen had passed away. Harry, who travelled individually, arrived later within the night.
Just two days earlier, she carried out one of her core ceremonial capabilities as head of state, appointing Truss because the fifteenth prime minister of her reign, which began with Winston Churchill in energy.
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She was seen smiling in pictures however wanting frail and utilizing a strolling stick.
One {photograph} of the assembly with Truss sparked alarm, displaying a deep purple bruise on the monarch’s proper hand.
She got here to the throne aged simply 25 in 1952 within the exhausted aftermath of World War II, becoming a member of a world stage dominated by political figures from China’s Mao Zedong to Soviet chief Joseph Stalin and US president Harry S. Truman.
Her record-breaking reign noticed the final vestiges of Britain’s huge empire crumble. At dwelling extra lately, Brexit divided her kingdom, and her household endured a sequence of scandals.
But all through, she remained well-liked and was queen and head of state not simply of the United Kingdom however 14 former British colonies, together with Australia and Canada. New Zealand proclaimed Charles its new king.
Tearful crowds
She was additionally head of the 56-nation Commonwealth, which takes in 1 / 4 of humanity, and supreme governor of the Church of England, the mom church of the worldwide Anglican communion.
But questions can be requested about whether or not the golden age of the British monarchy has now handed, how an historical establishment can stay viable within the fashionable period and whether or not Charles will command the identical respect or reign in his mom’s shadow.
Under leaden skies at Buckingham Palace, emotional crowds sang a forlorn “God Save the Queen” as information of her demise filtered via.
“I know she is 96, but there is still a sense of shock,”
tearful Londoner Joshua Ellis, 24, informed AFP.
“You could always look to the queen, on a sense of stability.”
Currency dealer Charlie Wolstenholme stated the information was onerous to bear.
“She’s been the queen for as long as my parents have been alive,” he added. “She’s really a very, very important part of the fabric.”
Historians have characterised the queen’s reign as a interval of inevitable decline for Britain from what some imagine to be its biggest reference level — victory in World War II.
“We were all told that the funeral of Churchill (in 1965) was the requiem for Britain as a great power,” one historian informed The Guardian newspaper in 2017.
“But actually, it will really be over when she goes.”
Royal writer Phil Dampier informed AFP she would undoubtedly be remembered as “the longest serving but also the greatest” monarch in British historical past.
Official mourning
“She lived through the most dramatic changes in the modern era of any monarch… It is going to be an impossible act to follow.”
Television and radio stations interrupted common programming to broadcast the information, with long-rehearsed particular schedules set in place to recollect her lengthy life and reign.
The nationwide anthem, “God Save the Queen”, was performed. Flags have been lowered and church bells tolled to recollect a lady as soon as described because the “last global monarch”.
An official discover, edged in black, was posted behind glass on the gates of Buckingham Palace and the royal web site, royal.uk, additionally turned black.
Truss stated: “It’s a unprecedented achievement to have presided with such dignity and beauty for 70 years. Her life of service stretched past most of our residing recollections.
“In return she was cherished and admired by the folks within the United Kingdom and all around the globe.
“Today the crown passes as it has done for more than 1 000 years to our new monarch, our new head of state, His Majesty King Charles III.”
The interval of nationwide mourning, which begins formally on Friday, will culminate in a closing public farewell at Westminster Abbey in London.
In the United States, President Joe Biden ordered flags be lowered to half-mast on the White House, different federal buildings in addition to army and diplomatic websites globally.
He lauded the queen as a “stateswoman of unmatched dignity”.
Longevity
“She helped make our relationship special,” he stated, including he appeared ahead to working together with her successor, noting their already “close friendship.”
Charles’ coronation, an elaborate ritual steeped in custom and historical past, will happen in the identical historic environment, because it has for hundreds of years, on a date to be mounted.
Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was for many of her topics the one monarch they’ve ever identified — an immutable figurehead on stamps, banknotes and cash.
Diminutive in stature but an icon of well-liked tradition, she was on the centre of all of it, immediately recognisable in her brightly colored fits and matching hat, with pearls, gloves and a purse.
During her reign, the royals went from stiff, distant figures to tabloid fodder and have been then popularised anew in tv dramas akin to “The Crown,” watched by tens of thousands and thousands worldwide.
Her time on the throne spanned an period of outstanding change, from the Cold War to the 9/11 assaults, from local weather change to coronavirus, “snail mail” and steam ships to electronic mail and house exploration.
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She grew to become seen because the residing embodiment of post-war Britain and a hyperlink between the trendy period and a bygone age.
The mom of one of probably the most well-known households on this planet, she retained big public help all through, surviving even a backlash within the wake of the stunning demise of Charles’s first spouse, Diana, in 1997.
More lately, the royal household was rocked by claims from Prince Harry and his mixed-race spouse Meghan of racism within the royal household.
She additionally endured a scandal involving her second son Prince Andrew, whose friendship with convicted intercourse offenders Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell noticed him settle a civil declare for sexual assault within the United States.
‘None of us will live forever’
Britons have been jolted into recognising the start of the tip of her reign when in April 2021 she misplaced her beloved husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Yet the palace had lengthy recognised her mortality and the transition to Charles was already effectively below method.
He, Prince William, who now turns into inheritor, and his spouse, Catherine, started to imagine extra of the queen’s official roles.
The coronavirus pandemic and her superior years pressured her into the sumptuous isolation of Windsor Castle, west of London.
But from behind its stately partitions, she remained a reassuring presence, popping up on video calls with members of the general public.
In a uncommon, televised deal with in the course of the first lockdown, she recalled the “Blitz spirit” of Britain below siege throughout World War II that outlined her era.
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“We will meet again,” she stated.
She forged off the shroud of Philip’s demise and her enforced confinement to renew public duties, however age and ill-health slowed her down.
After a unscheduled night time in hospital in October 2021 following undisclosed well being exams, her appearances grew to become rarer.
“None of us will live forever,” she informed world leaders attending a UN local weather change summit quickly afterwards, urging them to depart a legacy for generations to come back.
One of her final decisive acts was to settle an unanswered query for the succession, giving her blessing for Charles’s second spouse, Camilla, to be referred to as “queen consort”.
© Agence France-Presse
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