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Sep 8, 2022 · Buckingham Palace said the queen, who was 96, died peacefully at Balmoral Castle, her estate in the Scottish Highlands. Her son became Britain’s new monarch, King Charles III.
- 2 min
- Yan Zhuang
Sep 8, 2022 · Summary. The Queen is under medical supervision at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, a statement from Buckingham Palace says. Her doctors are concerned for her health, but say the 96-year-old monarch ...
Summary. The Prince and Princess of Wales have today greeted crowds in Sandringham and looked at the floral tributes left there; Prince William told well-wishers that walking behind the Queen's ...
Sep 19, 2022 · Princes William and Harry, and their wives Kate and Meghan, met crowds at Windsor in an unexpected joint appearance. They collected floral tributes and spoke to some of those who had gathered to ...
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LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II, whose 70-year reign spanned wars, a pandemic, 14 U.S. presidents and the winding down of Britain’s vast empire, has died. Her eldest son, Charles, is now king.
“The queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,” the royal family said in a statement. “The king and the queen consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.”
The longest-serving British monarch was 96.
Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor is also survived by her other children, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. Prince William, next in line to the throne, and Prince Harry are among her eight grandchildren. She has a dozen great-grandchildren.
Tributes for the queen poured in from around the world as soon as the news was announced.
President Joe Biden called Elizabeth “a stateswoman of unmatched dignity and constancy who deepened the bedrock Alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States.”
Elizabeth was not born to be queen — her father was the second son of King George V. As the oldest child of Prince Albert, the Duke of York, and the Scottish aristocrat Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the Duchess of York, she was destined for extreme privilege enjoyed in relative obscurity. All this changed in 1936 when her uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated so he could marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
Her father, a shy man who suffered from a bad stutter, was then thrust onto the throne to become King George VI. With that, carefree “Lilibet,” as she was known to some of those closest to her, became heir to the throne.
At the age of 13, she met Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark (later Philip Mountbatten), a dashing Naval officer and her third cousin. They began exchanging letters and years later were engaged, the union caused some controversy in royal circles at the time because of his relative poverty and status as an outsider.
At the outbreak of World War II, her parents stayed in London, a hugely symbolic gesture at the time that was taken despite the German “Blitz” bombing campaign hitting Buckingham Palace. Then a teenager, Elizabeth and her younger sister, Princess Margaret, were among the 3 million people evacuated from cities to the countryside.
It was at Windsor Castle just outside London that the young heir gave her first public speech, a radio address during BBC’s Children’s Hour that was intended to boost national morale.
Elizabeth was just as well-known for her family’s ups and downs. Her “annus horribilis” in 1992 saw a string of scandals related to her children, including that of Charles and his then-wife, Princess Diana, capped with a devastating fire at Windsor Castle. Five years later, the queen and the royal family were accused of being unemotional, and even disrespectful, following Diana’s death.
With the queen’s death, the U.K. will now enter into mourning and at least 10 days of carefully choreographed pageantry that have been in the planning for years, codenamed “London Bridge” by Buckingham Palace, the government and law enforcement. The events will dominate radio and television broadcasts, newspaper front pages and conversations over water coolers and backyard fences for days.
Large crowds are expected to pay their respects as she lies in state in Parliament. World leaders will begin arriving in the U.K. to pay their tributes before the queen’s state funeral at Westminster Abbey. She will be buried in Windsor Castle, the home of Britain’s kings and queens for more than 1,000 years.
Next comes the unknown.
Charles is far less popular than his mother, a hangover from his mutual infidelity and divorce from Diana, and a public persona seen by many as divisive. Unlike the queen, whose popularity is based on her discreteness and impartiality, Charles has been caught up in a number of political controversies, such as writing letters to government ministers in an attempt to influence policy — verboten now he has become the country’s politically powerless constitutional monarch.
The future of the Commonwealth is also in doubt. This group of 56 member states is seen as a voluntary successor to the British empire, but recently there have been calls among its Caribbean members for Britain to pay reparations because of the crown’s historical links with the slave trade. Last year, Barbados ditched the British monarch of its head of state, and others, including Jamaica and even Australia have signaled they may one day follow.
In Britain, however, the queen’s death will be mourned both for who she was and the era she represented.
- 6 min
- Alexander Smith
Sep 8, 2022 · 8 September 2022. EPA. The Queen was seen on Tuesday when she appointed Liz Truss as prime minister at Balmoral. By Sean Coughlan, royal correspondent, & George Bowden. BBC News. The Queen is ...
Jun 2, 2022 · Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-serving monarch, kicked off four days of Platinum Jubilee festivities with a military parade, known as Trooping the Color, and an appearance on the balcony ...
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