Buckingham Palace announces Queen Elizabeth II has died at her 96

Queen Elizabeth II ruled the UK for 70 years and died at Balmoral at 96.

After worries about her health mounted early on Thursday, her family gathered at her Scottish estate.

The Queen experienced significant social change after ascending to the throne in 1952.

After her passing, her eldest son Charles, the former Prince of Wales, would take the throne as the new King and ruler of 14 Commonwealth states, leading the nation in grief.

His Majesty the King stated in a press release:

 “The death of my beloved mother, Her Majesty The Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family.”

“We profoundly mourn the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved Mother. I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and countless people worldwide.”

He and his family will be “comforted and fortified by our appreciation of the vast admiration and affection with which the Queen was cherished” through the time of loss and transition.

Buckingham Palace released a statement:

 “The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.

“The King and the Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.”

After the Queen was placed under medical observation, all her children travelled to Balmoral, near Aberdeen. Her grandson Prince William is also present, and Prince Harry is on his way. Queen Elizabeth II’s tenure as head of state spanned the austerity era following World War II, the transition from an empire to a Commonwealth, the conclusion of the Cold War, and the United Kingdom’s participation in and withdrawal from the European Union.

Elizabeth Truss, who was selected by the Queen earlier this week and was born 101 years after Winston Churchill in 1975, served as prime minister throughout her reign.

Throughout her reign, she held weekly meetings with her prime minister. Crowds awaiting news of the Queen’s condition at Buckingham Palace in London began to weep upon learning of her death. The Union flag over the palace was lowered to half-staff at 18:30 BST.

Queen Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born in Mayfair, London, on April 21, 1926. Few could have guessed that Elizabeth would become monarch, but in December 1936, her uncle Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry the twice-divorced American Wallis Simpson.

King George VI abdicated in favor of Elizabeth’s 10-year-old sister Lilibet, heir to the throne. In three years, Britain and Nazi Germany were at war. Elizabeth and her younger sister, Princess Margaret, spent a significant period of the war in Windsor Castle after their parents rejected requests that they are evacuated to Canada.

Elizabeth, 18 years old, completed five months of training as a driver and basic mechanic with the Auxiliary Territorial Service.

“I began to understand the esprit de corps that flourishes in the face of adversity,” she recalled later.

She kept in touch with Philip, Prince of Greece, her third cousin, when he was serving in the Royal Navy. As their romance developed, they married at Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947, with the prince acquiring the title of Duke of Edinburgh. Until his passing at age 99 in 2021, she would refer to him as “my strength and support” during their 74-year union. Prince Edward was born in 1964, Princess Anne in 1950, Prince Andrew in 1960, and Charles, the couple’s eldest son, was born in 1948. Eight grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren were given to their parents by them.

When Prince Philip broke the sad news of her father’s passing to Princess Elizabeth in 1952, she represented the ailing King in Kenya. As the new Queen, she promptly went back to London.

“It was all a very sudden kind of taking on and making the best job you can,” she recalled.

Elizabeth was crowned at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953, at 27, before a then-record television viewership of more than 20 million. The demise of the British Empire abroad and the swinging ’60s swept away societal conventions in the United States throughout the subsequent decades.

Elizabeth changed the monarchy for this less deferential era by engaging the public through walkabouts, royal visits, and participation in public activities. Her dedication to the Commonwealth was unwavering; she visited every Commonwealth nation at least once. However, there were times of private and national suffering. In 1992, the Queen’s “year from hell” occurred when a fire destroyed her private house and working palace, Windsor Castle, and three of her children’s marriages failed.

The Queen came under fire for not publicly commenting after Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car accident in Paris in 1997.

The monarchy’s usefulness in contemporary society has been called into doubt.

“No institution… should expect to be free from the scrutiny of those who give it their loyalty and support, not to mention those who don’t,” she acknowledged.

She was the only Queen most of her people had ever known, and she is commemorated on stamps, banknotes, coins, and in popular culture.

She had to suffer Charles and Diana’s separation, Prince Andrew’s alleged associations with Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted child abuser, and Harry and Meghan’s exile from the royal family.

Among other critical historical moments, she saw the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy, the moon landing, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the Covid pandemic. She served under fourteen British prime ministers, from Winston Churchill to Liz Truss, throughout her time in office. Because she was too ill to travel back to London, she first appointed Liz Truss in Balmoral, Scotland.

Her 73-year marriage to Prince Philip ended several weeks before his 100th birthday in April 2021. The world was affected by a COVID technique that resulted in a picture of the Queen sitting by herself in the apse of St. George’s Chapel during his burial.