Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and the nation’s figurehead for seven many years, died at her dwelling in Scotland aged 96 on Thursday (8 September).
“The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,” Buckingham Palace stated in an announcement. “The King and The Queen Consort will stay at Balmoral this night and can return to London tomorrow.”
Elizabeth’s eldest son Charles, 73, routinely turns into king of the UK and the pinnacle of state of 14 different realms together with Australia, Canada and New Zealand. His spouse Camilla turns into Queen Consort.
Information that the queen’s well being was deteriorating emerged shortly after noon on Thursday when her medical doctors stated she was underneath medical supervision, prompting her household to hurry to be by her aspect at her Scottish dwelling, Balmoral.
The queen had been affected by what Buckingham Palace has referred to as “episodic mobility issues” for the reason that 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 have 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 Feb. 6, 1952, when she was simply 25.
Topped
She was topped in June the next 12 months. The primary televised coronation was a foretaste of a brand new world during which the lives of the royals have been to develop into more and more scrutinised by the media.
“I’ve in sincerity pledged myself to your service, as so a lot of you might be pledged to mine. All through all my life and with all my coronary heart I shall attempt to be worthy of your belief,” 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Elizabeth turned monarch at a time when Britain nonetheless retained a lot of its outdated empire. It was rising from the ravages of World Battle Two, with meals rationing nonetheless in pressure and sophistication and privilege nonetheless dominant in society.
Winston Churchill was Britain’s prime minister on the time, Josef Stalin led the Soviet Union and the Korean Battle was raging.
Within the many years that adopted, Elizabeth witnessed huge political change and social upheaval at dwelling and overseas. Her family’s tribulations, most notably the divorce of Charles and his late first spouse Diana, have been performed out in full public glare.
Whereas remaining an everlasting 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 different,” her grandson Prince William, who’s now inheritor to the throne, stated in a 2012 documentary.
Data
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 on the Battle of Hastings.
Her lengthy reign meant she repeatedly broke data 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 protracted life can cross by many milestones – my very own is not any exception,” she stated.
Her marriage to Prince Philip lasted 73 years, till his demise in April 2021, and so they had 4 kids, Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward.
She by no means gave a media interview and critics stated she got here throughout as distant and aloof.
However for the overwhelming majority of her topics, for whom she was the one monarch they’ve identified, 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 sensible, with a beautiful generosity of spirit. That’s how she lived – and the way she led,” former Prime Minister John Main stated.
“For hundreds of thousands of individuals – throughout the Commonwealth and the broader world – she embodied the guts and soul of our nation, and was admired and revered across the globe.”
Opinion polls have steered that Charles doesn’t take pleasure in wherever close to the identical degree of assist and there’s hypothesis that the lack of Elizabeth may even see an increase in republican sentiment, significantly within the different realms.
“I believe it is going to be an unlimited shock to all people, far more than they realise. I don’t know if it’s an exaggeration to assume there will likely be some form of nearly nationwide nervous breakdown,” royal historian Hugo Vickers stated.
He stated her reign was unlikely to be rivalled.
“I believe to be fairly trustworthy, if we lived 1,000 years, we might by no means see something fairly prefer it once more.”
At her demise the queen was head of state of not solely the UK 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.
