QUEEN ELIZABETH II IS DEAD – BRITAIN MOURNS

Buckingham Palace announces the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth. Buckingham Palace announced on Thursday that Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and the nation’s icon for seven decades, has died at the age of 96.

“The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement.”The King and the Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.

“Her eldest son, Charles, 73, is crowned King of the United Kingdom and King of 14 other countries, including Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

Her family went to her Scottish property, Balmoral Castle, after doctors voiced concern about her health. She has had “episodic mobility problems” since the end of last year, and Buckingham Palace says that she has had to cancel almost all of her public events because of them.

Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926–8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her life and of 15 at the time of her passing. She has the longest confirmed reign of any female queen in history at 70 years and 214 days.

Elizabeth, the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, was born in Mayfair, London (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother). Her father acceded to the throne in 1936 upon the abdication of his brother Edward VIII, making the ten-year-old Princess Elizabeth the heir presumptive. She received a private education at home and got her start in public service during World War II as a member of the Auxiliary Territorial Service. She wed Philip Mountbatten, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, in November 1947, and their union lasted until his death in 2021, a whole 73 years. They had four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward.

Queen Elizabeth II, at 25 years old, took over as head of the Commonwealth after her father’s death in February 1952. She also became queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka). Elizabeth II was a constitutional monarch who presided over the United Kingdom during a time of great political upheaval, including the Troubles in Northern Ireland, devolution in the United Kingdom, the decolonization of Africa, and the United Kingdom’s entry into and exit from the European Communities and the European Union.

Since some of her realms became republics and other countries obtained independence, the total number of her realms has fluctuated over time. During her reign, Elizabeth was served by more than 170 prime ministers. State visits to China in 1986, Russia in 1994, and the Republic of Ireland in 2011 were among her many historic visits and meetings, as were encounters with five popes.

Major events included Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953 as well as the celebrations of her Silver, Golden, Diamond, and Platinum jubilees in 1977, 2002, 2012, and 2022, respectively. Support for the monarchy in the United Kingdom and her personal popularity remained high throughout her lifetime, despite occasional republican sentiment and media criticism of her family, especially after the breakdowns of her children’s marriages, her annus horribilis in 1992, and the death in 1997 of her former daughter-in-law, Diana, Princess of Wales. Elizabeth passed away in 2022 at the age of 96 at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire. Her eldest son, Charles III, became monarch after her. After the burial of Winston Churchill in 1965, hers was the first state funeral to be held in the United Kingdom.