Queen Elizabeth II, the world’s second-longest reigning monarch, died Thursday on the age of 96.
“The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,” the palace mentioned Thursday. “The King and The Queen Consort will stay at Balmoral this night and can return to London tomorrow.”
Elizabeth, who was Britain’s oldest monarch and served as queen for a file 70 years, is survived by her 4 kids, eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Her late husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, died on April 9, 2021.
Elizabeth’s eldest son, Prince Charles, succeeds her as sovereign of the United Kingdom. As king, he additionally takes her titles Defender of the Religion and Supreme Governor of the Church of England. Elizabeth’s grandson Prince William and his son, Prince George, at the moment are first and second to the throne, respectively.
As Head of the Commonwealth, Elizabeth served because the constitutional monarch of 15 republics, together with the U.Ok., Canada and Australia. She was additionally a symbolic figurehead for greater than 30 different nations of the Commonwealth.
Although this position just isn't hereditary, Charles was authorized as his mom’s successor by the group’s heads of presidency in April 2018. Elizabeth had informed the group it was her “honest want” for Charles to succeed her.
In December 2007, Elizabeth surpassed the file for longest-living U.Ok. monarch set by her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria, who died in 1901 at age 81. In September 2015, Elizabeth turned the longest-reigning British monarch. Victoria, the previous title-holder, had reigned for 63 years.
Elizabeth was the world’s second-longest reigning monarch, after Louis XIV of France.
In February 2017, Elizabeth celebrated her Sapphire Jubilee, the primary British monarch to take action.That November, she turned the primary British monarch to have a good time a seventieth wedding ceremony anniversary. She celebrated her Platinum Jubilee, which marks 70 years on the throne, on Feb. 6, 2022.
One of many hottest monarchs within the U.Ok.’s historical past, the queen was a globally acknowledged image of the British monarchy and its resilience in a altering world.
Elizabeth, nevertheless, wasn’t alleged to turn out to be queen; the position was thrust upon her unexpectedly.
She was born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary in London on April 21, 1926, to the then-Prince Albert, Duke of York, and his spouse, Elizabeth, Duchess of York. The princess had been third in line to the throne when her uncle turned King Edward VIII in 1936, upon the dying of his father and Elizabeth’s grandfather, King George V.
However Edward abdicated that 12 months ― in opposition to the recommendation of the British authorities and the Church of England ― so he might marry Wallis Simpson, an American who was divorced. Elizabeth’s father was unexpectedly topped King George VI as a consequence, and the course of her life and U.Ok. historical past was altered eternally.
In 1952, George, who’d battled unwell well being for a number of years, died on the age of 56 and Elizabeth, who had no brothers, turned queen at age 25. She had married Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark ― whom she met when she was 13 years previous ― lower than 5 years earlier. The couple had two younger kids on the time.
Her coronation at London’s Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953, was televised for the primary time within the ceremony’s 900-year historical past. The choice initially enraged some senior officers, together with Winston Churchill, who was then prime minister.
Churchill believed televising the occasion stay might diminish the monarchy. However Elizabeth agreed to do it in order that “as many individuals as potential might observe the ceremony.” She is quoted as telling Churchill that every one her topics "ought to have a chance of seeing it."
An estimated 27 million individuals in Britain (about three-quarters of the inhabitants on the time) ended up watching the occasion on TV. Thousands and thousands of others listened to the ceremony on the radio.
Elizabeth confirmed loyalty to the establishment of the monarchy and saved up with previous rituals and traditions, however she was additionally a quiet reformer and modernizer. She made conventional occasions and royal grounds extra accessible to the general public, and hosted dinners at Buckingham Palace, the place she blended with individuals of all backgrounds, together with businesspeople, charity employees, athletes and artists.
Nonetheless, the queen remained an enigmatic determine who saved her feelings and private emotions non-public. Elizabeth hardly ever made her opinions on political or private points publicly recognized. And she or he by no means gave a press interview ― although she twice agreed to be filmed for documentaries.
The primary movie precipitated a stir when it screened in 1969, as nobody had seen such intimate footage of the royals earlier than. Buckingham Palace completely withdrew the movie from full public viewing later that 12 months, involved that it made the household appear too extraordinary, although the movie often surfaces on YouTube.
In 2016, Elizabeth agreed to be a part of a BBC movie marking her ninetieth birthday.
The queen maintained the stoic composure that was the hallmark of her public persona, even in her darkest hour. In 1992, a interval she described as her “annus horribilis,” or “disastrous 12 months,” Elizabeth’s eldest sons, Princes Charles and Andrew, every separated from their wives; her daughter, Princess Anne, divorced; and a fireplace devastated Windsor Fortress. “1992 just isn't a 12 months on which I shall look again with undiluted pleasure,” she mentioned in a speech that November.
5 years later, the dying of Charles’ former spouse Diana, Princess of Wales, threatened the existence of the monarchy itself. Critics accused Elizabeth of being aloof and remaining in her Scottish citadel as an alternative of responding to the outpouring of grief that swept the U.Ok., as floral tributes to Diana stuffed streets close to London’s royal palaces.
Tony Blair, then prime minister, was involved the royal household was “out of contact” with public opinion, and persuaded the queen to journey again to London. She returned days later and acknowledged the sorrow of each the general public and her circle of relatives in a televised broadcast that eased tensions. “She obtained the stability between exhibiting emotion and retaining the respect and dignity of the of the monarchy,” Blair later informed the broadcaster ITV of the speech.
Throughout her reign, Elizabeth conferred tons of of hundreds of honors and awards, and although her position was largely ceremonial, she was politically engaged. She’d pore over official paperwork and saved abreast with present affairs every day, and met privately with the prime minister of the day to have an intimate, confidential chat each week. Although the content material of those conferences is basically unknown, the queen is believed to have acted as each confidant and adviser to those leaders.
Elizabeth additionally performed an vital diplomatic position, and was reportedly the most well-traveled monarch in historical past, together with her diplomatic efforts taking her all around the world.
Amongst her most memorable, and profitable, conferences was her 2011 state journey to Eire. It was the first go to to Eire by a British monarch in 100 years, and was seen as a symbolic gesture of reconciliation between the 2 nations. The queen’s present of goodwill, and her “phrases and bearing” throughout her go to, have been “nearly universally praised” by each Irish politicians and most of the people, The Guardian reported on the time.
Although she was recognized for being dutiful, the queen often confirmed glimpses of a extra daring facet, like when the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia visited her Balmoral property in Scotland in 1998. Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, the previous British ambassador to Saudi Arabia, recounted in his memoir how Elizabeth had requested the then-crown prince if he’d like a tour of the property. He agreed and shortly discovered himself within the passenger seat of a Land Rover.
“To his shock, the Queen climbed into the driving seat, turned the ignition and drove off,” Cowper-Coles wrote. “Ladies aren't — but — allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, and Abdullah was not used to being pushed by a girl, not to mention a queen.”
Displaying an amazing willingness to advertise interfaith concord, Elizabeth, the pinnacle of the Anglican Church, met with 5 pontiffs, together with Pope Francis, throughout her reign. The queen additionally met with a number of world leaders at house and overseas, together with U.S. President Donald Trump, South African President Nelson Mandela, Soviet chief Nikita Khrushchev and Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu ― a go to that the queen reportedly described because the “worst three days of her life.”
“I feel what the queen symbolizes, not simply to Nice Britain, however to your entire Commonwealth and clearly your entire world, is the most effective of England,” Trump’s predecessor, President Barack Obama, informed the BBC in 2011. Obama, who made state visits to Buckingham Palace in 2009 and Windsor Fortress in 2016, mentioned the monarch was a “charming” and “gracious” host.
Elizabeth wasn’t exempt from criticism throughout her reign, nevertheless. She encountered waves of republicanism within the U.Ok., Australia and elsewhere over the a long time.
A British anti-monarchy group referred to as Republic has been calling for the top of the royal household’s reign for years. “Basically, the monarchy is corrupt,” Graham Smith, the group’s chief government, informed The Guardian in 2018.
On the opposite facet of the world, Australians have often mulled whether or not their authorities ought to turn out to be a republic or stay a part of the monarchy. Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has repeatedly steered holding a plebiscite searching for voters’ opinions on this matter upon Elizabeth’s dying.
Elizabeth additionally got here beneath scrutiny for her dealing with of a intercourse abuse scandal involving her son Prince Andrew.
Virginia Giuffre has mentioned that she was trafficked by disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, who pressured her to have intercourse with Andrew in 2001, when she was a teen. Andrew vigorously denied the accusations and in 2019 gave a disastrous BBC interview through which he failed to precise sympathy for Epstein’s victims and even censure the late convicted intercourse offender’s actions. Amid widespread backlash to the interview, the Duke of York introduced he was stepping again from public duties “for the foreseeable future.”
Following the interview, which Elizabeth had reportedly allowed, the queen’s judgment was criticized when she was pictured horseback driving with Andrew, in an obvious present of assist, days after he introduced he was stepping again. A number of weeks later, Andrew attended the queen’s annual Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace and went to Christmas Day church companies together with his brother, Prince Charles.
“Many individuals’s judgment has been referred to as into query over this, not least the queen for permitting the interview to happen,” royal commentator Peter Hunt informed CNN, including that Andrew’s conduct had “broken the royal household.”
Andrew’s authorized troubles didn’t finish there. In August 2021, Giuffre sued Andrew in Manhattan, citing trafficking and sexual assault allegations stemming from when she was 17. The Duke of York’s conduct was as soon as once more tied to the queen, as he was pictured hiding out at his mom’s property as a way to escape course of servers. Giuffre and Andrew ultimately reached an out-of-court settlement in February 2022.
The queen’s closing years have been additionally marked by private loss and household upheaval, in addition to the problem of serving to information the U.Ok. by way of the onset of COVID-19. In April 2020, Elizabeth was praised for her potential to reassure and unify individuals after she delivered a transferring, emotional speech amid the uncertainty and dislocation of the pandemic. It was solely the fifth time she had given a particular tackle to the nation.
“We must always take consolation that whereas we've got extra nonetheless to endure, higher days will return,” she mentioned in these remarks. “We might be with our pals once more; we might be with our households once more; we are going to meet once more.”
It was a interval considered one other “annus horribilis” for the queen, partially as a result of her grandson Prince Harry and his spouse, Meghan Markle, declared in January 2020 that they have been stepping again as working senior members of the royal household to pursue monetary freedom and a transfer to North America.
In March 2021, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex revealed in a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey that a member of the royal household had expressed racist considerations earlier than their son, Archie, was born, amongst different extraordinary revelations.
The queen subsequently issued a press release by way of Buckingham Palace saying: “The entire household is saddened to be taught the complete extent of how difficult the previous couple of years have been for Harry and Meghan. The problems raised, significantly that of race, are regarding. Whereas some recollections could differ, they're taken very significantly and might be addressed by the household privately.”
And shortly after Harry and Meghan’s interview aired, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and the queen’s beloved consort and husband of 73 years, died on April 9 on the age of 99. A picture of Elizabeth sitting alone on the funeral, which was held at a comparatively small scale in accordance with COVID-19 rules, was seen as some of the poignant moments of the day, and have become an emblem of the loneliness and grief of dropping a liked one throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
The queen as soon as described the duke as her “power and keep” in a speech celebrating the couple’s golden wedding ceremony anniversary, which marked their 50 years collectively.
“He's somebody who doesn’t take simply to compliments however he has, fairly merely, been my power and keep all these years, and I, and his complete household, and this and lots of different nations, owe him a debt higher than he would ever declare, or we will ever know,” Elizabeth mentioned on Nov. 20, 1997.
For her personal half, the queen remained a broadly beloved chief all through the ultimate years of her life. In 2012, the 12 months of her Diamond Jubilee ― or sixtieth 12 months as queen ― and when London hosted the Olympic Video games, Elizabeth had an approval ranking within the U.Ok. of 90%, which was mentioned to be an all-time excessive. In February 2017, across the time of her Sapphire Jubilee (or sixty fifth 12 months), she nonetheless reigned with an approval ranking of about 80%.
In 1947, as a 21-year-old princess, Elizabeth delivered a speech to the Commonwealth through which she vowed that her “complete life, whether or not or not it's lengthy or brief, shall be dedicated to your service and the service of our nice imperial household to which all of us belong.” She remained true to this promise till the top, refusing to abdicate whilst different monarchs in Europe selected to take action.
Even in her late 80s and into her 90s, the queen, who turned recognized for her monochromatic outfits, maintained an lively schedule and was a patron of tons of of charities and organizations, although in later years she started to cross on a few of her patronages to different royals to “ease her workload.”She continued to attract huge crowds wherever she went.
“Whenever you’re within the presence of the queen, you’re keyed up,” British historian Robert Lacey mentioned within the 2012 BBC documentary “The Diamond Queen.” “You need to be your greatest. You need the event to be one thing you'll be able to speak to all people about afterwards.”
“That after all is the magic of what she is wherever she goes,” Lacey mentioned. “The true human alternate that occurs there's not a facsimile, and it’s not drummed up by the press. It’s one thing about the most effective of us.”
Rebecca Falconer contributed reporting.
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