Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and the nation’s figurehead for seven a long time, died at her residence in Scotland aged 96 on Thursday.
“The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,” Buckingham Palace stated in an announcement. “The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.”
Elizabeth’s eldest son Charles, 73, routinely turns into king of the United Kingdom and the top of state of 14 different realms together with Australia, Canada and New Zealand. His spouse Camilla turns into Queen Consort.
News that the queen’s well being was deteriorating emerged shortly after noon on Thursday when her docs stated she was below medical supervision, prompting her household to hurry to be by her facet at her Scottish residence, Balmoral.
The queen had been affected by what Buckingham Palace has referred to as “episodic mobility problems” because the finish of final 12 months, forcing her to withdraw from almost all her public engagements.
Her final public engagement got here solely on Tuesday, when she appointed Liz Truss prime minister – her fifteenth premier.
At her palaces and at authorities buildings throughout London, flags had been lowered to half-mast.
Queen Elizabeth II, who was additionally the world’s oldest and longest-serving head of state, got here to the throne following the demise of her father King George VI on 6 February 1952, when she was simply 25.
Crowned
She was topped in June the next 12 months. The first televised coronation was a foretaste of a brand new world wherein the lives of the royals had been to change into more and more scrutinised by the media.
“I have in sincerity pledged myself to your service, as so many of you are pledged to mine. Throughout all my life and with all my heart I shall strive to be worthy of your trust,” she stated in a speech to her topics on her coronation day.
Elizabeth turned monarch at a time when Britain nonetheless retained a lot of its previous empire. It was rising from the ravages of World War II, with meals rationing nonetheless in drive and sophistication and privilege nonetheless dominant in society.
Winston Churchill was Britain’s prime minister at the time, Josef Stalin led the Soviet Union and the Korean War was raging.
In the a long time that adopted, Elizabeth witnessed huge political change and social upheaval at residence and overseas. Her family’s tribulations, most notably the divorce of Charles and his late first spouse Diana, had been performed out in full public glare.
While remaining a permanent image of stability and continuity for Britons at a time of relative nationwide financial decline, Elizabeth additionally tried to adapt the traditional establishment of monarchy to the calls for of the trendy period.
“She has managed to modernise and evolve the monarchy like no other,” her grandson Prince William, who’s now inheritor to the throne, stated in a 2012 documentary.
Records
Elizabeth was the fortieth monarch in a royal line that traces its origin again to Norman King William the Conqueror who claimed the English throne in 1066 after defeating Anglo-Saxon ruler Harold II at the Battle of Hastings.
Her lengthy reign meant she repeatedly broke information for British rulers.
When she surpassed the greater than 63 years her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria spent on the throne, she stated it was not a landmark to which she had ever aspired.
“Inevitably a long life can pass by many milestones – my own is no exception,” she stated.
Her marriage to Prince Philip lasted 73 years, till his demise in April 2021, they usually had 4 kids, Charles, Anne, Andrew and (*96*).
She by no means gave a media interview and critics stated she got here throughout as distant and aloof.
But for the overwhelming majority of her topics, for whom she was the one monarch they’ve recognized, she was a determine who commanded respect and admiration. Her demise marks the top of an period.
“In her public duties she was selfless and wise, with a wonderful generosity of spirit. That is how she lived – and how she led,” former Prime Minister John Major stated.
“For millions of people – across the Commonwealth and the wider world – she embodied the heart and soul of our nation, and was admired and respected around the globe.”
King
Opinion polls have steered that Charles doesn’t get pleasure from anyplace close to the identical degree of assist and there may be hypothesis that the lack of Elizabeth might even see an increase in republican sentiment, significantly within the different realms.
“I think it will be an enormous shock to everybody, much more than they realise. I don’t know if it’s an exaggeration to think there will be some sort of almost national nervous breakdown,” royal historian Hugo Vickers stated.
He stated her reign is unlikely to be rivalled.
“I think to be quite honest, if we lived 1 000 years, we would never see anything quite like it again.”
At her demise the queen was head of state of not solely the United Kingdom but additionally of Australia, the Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Antigua and Barbuda.
President Cyril Ramaphosa paid a courtesy name on Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle whereas on a working go to to London to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in April 2018. Image: Elmond Jiyane, GCIS
