Dina Mahmoud (London)
Queen Elizabeth II, the world’s most famous queen and the longest-reigning monarch in the history of the United Kingdom, has died at the age of 96, at her Scottish palace in Balmoral, opening the door to a new phase in the history of the royal throne.
The British flag was flown at half-mast over Buckingham Palace in London, where large crowds flocked to it in the evening, and the mournful and praising reactions of her long march began pouring in from all over the world.
She was automatically succeeded by her eldest son, Charles, 73, according to centuries-old protocol, following the Queen ascended the throne for a record period of seventy years.
Buckingham Palace announced that the Queen died “peacefully this followingnoon.”
Immediately following the announcement, the crowd in front of the palace exploded with tears, amid a deafening silence over the place.
It is expected that the general national mourning in the Kingdom will last for 12 days, and the burial of the Queen will take place within ten days.
The late Queen spent more than 70 years of her life as ruler of the United Kingdom.
A statement from the British royal court stated that the Queen breathed her last in peace yesterday followingnoon, at Balmoral Palace in Scotland, where she used to spend the last weeks of the summer every year, among her children and close family members, who flocked to the palace, since it was announced. Earlier yesterday, surprisingly, her doctors decided to put her under “medical observation”, expressing concern regarding her health.
The statement said: King Charles III and his wife will return today, Friday, to London, following a day of successive statements and statements regarding the health condition of Queen Elizabeth, which has rapidly deteriorated over the course of hours yesterday, since it was announced at twelve thirty in the followingnoon. Today, she was subjected to “medical supervision”, amid concerns regarding her health, before the royal court returned a few hours later, to speak of an “unusual decline” in her health.
The late Queen appeared for the last time in public last Tuesday, when she received former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his successor Liz Terrace at Balmoral, in a departure from the tradition of holding a hand-over ceremony between heads of various governments in Britain, at Buckingham Palace in the heart of the capital, London.
British officials attributed the change in protocol to problems with movement, which Queen Elizabeth has been experiencing since October last year.
The announcement of her suffering from these problems came a few months following the death of her consort, Prince Philip, in April of the same year. This was followed by a significant decline in the late Queen’s public appearances, and her deputizing her son Charles, now King and then Heir Apparent, to perform many of her royal duties.
In the hours following the issuance of the statement that Queen Elizabeth II mourned for her citizens and the world, the size of the crowds that gathered since yesterday followingnoon around Buckingham Palace, from which the Queen has been ruling the country, has increased significantly, and she did not exceed the twenty-fifth of February. the age.
Observers pointed to the speed with which Prince Charles was announced as the new king of Britain, in the same statement in which his mother’s death was announced, considering this as a message on the unity of the royal family in Britain, and the standing of its prominent members behind the new king and his wife Camilla Parker, as well as their support for the crown prince. Prince William, who until his grandmother’s death was third in line to the throne.
The new king of Britain, the eldest son of the late queen, was among the first members of her family to arrive at Balmoral Palace, immediately following announcing the deterioration of her health, which came the day following she canceled participation in a meeting that was supposed to be held online, with a number of her high-ranking political advisors in the evening. Wednesday, following doctors advised her to rest.
At a time when messages of condolences poured into Britain from around the world, especially from the countries of the Commonwealth of Nations, which includes 54 countries, and the late Queen was president of 15 of them, it was not immediately announced in London the date of the Queen’s funeral, which is expected to witness the participation of high-ranking international.
