After her reign as the UK’s longest-serving monarch in history, Queen Elizabeth II has died peacefully at Balmoral Castle aged 96.
Senior members of the royal gamily were summoned to their queen mother’s Scottish estate just hours ago due to growing concerns regarding her health. In the past few months, Queen Elizabeth II had reportedly been suffering “episodic mobility problems” and required close medical supervision. Now, the final chapter of her storied lifetime has been written.
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“We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished sovereign and a much-loved mother,” said the newly-ascended King Charles, 73.
“I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world.”
King Charles added that during the coming period, both he and his family would be “comforted and sustained” by the knowledge of the “respect and deep affection in which the Queen was so widely held.”
In addition to Charles III becoming king and symbolic head of state to 14 Commonwealth realms, his wife Camilla has now become queen consort, while Prince William, Duke of Cornwall & Cambridge, will be heir apparent from this day forward.
Born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, the late Queen inherited the throne at the age of just 25 after the passing of her own king father, George VI, in the year 1952.
Bucking tradition by favouring the retention of her own House of Windsor over Prince Phillip’s House of Mountbatten and House of Edinburgh, what followed was seven decades of devotion to service, effectively providing a “bedrock of stability” for the monarch as the world rapidly evolved all around them.
Throughout her tenure as symbolic head of state, Queen Elizabeth II oversaw a grand total of 15 prime ministers starting from Winston Churchill himself, all the way to the recently-sworn in Liz Truss; having held weekly audiences with each and every one whenever possible.
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“We are all devastated by the news we’ve all heard from Balmoral,” said Prime Minister Liz Truss.
“The death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth is a huge shock to the nation and to the world.”
“Queen Elizabeth II was the rock on which the modern world was built. Our country has grown and flourished under her reign. Britain is the great country it is today because of her.”
“And with the passing of the second Elizabethan age, we usher in a new era in the magnificent history of our great country, exactly as Her Majesty would have wished, by saying the words ‘God save the King.'”
According to the BBC, while health had kept her from certain events towards the end, Queen Elizabeth II was quoted as saying: “My heart has been with you all.”
