After ruling for seven decades, unshakably committed to the rituals of her role amidst all challenges and family scandal, Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-serving monarch has been confirmed dead at 98 years, now replaced by son Prince Charles as the new King.
Queen Elizabeth died on Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, her summer retreat. The royal family announced her death online, saying she had “died peacefully.” The announcement did not specify a cause.
Her death elevated her eldest son, Charles, to the monarchy, as King Charles III. In a statement, he said:
“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 mourn profoundly 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 by countless people around the world."
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Elizabeth’s long years as sovereign were a time of enormous upheaval, in which she sought to project and protect the royal family as a rare bastion of permanence in a world of shifting values.
At her coronation on June 2, 1953, a year after she acceded to the throne, she surveyed a realm emerging from an empire of such geographical reach that it was said the sun never set on it.
