The death certificate of Elizabeth II, who died on September 8 at the age of 96, was made public on Thursday by the National Archives of Scotland.
After 70 years of reign, Elizabeth II died in her Scottish castle of Balmoral. His death was announced by Buckingham Palace at 6:30 p.m. local time (5:30 p.m. GMT), but Prime Minister Liz Truss was known to have been informed at 4:30 p.m.
On the day of his death, his eldest son, who became Charles III, had arrived at Balmoral at midday but his other sons Andrew and Edward, as well as Charles’s son William, did not arrive there until the evening. Harry, William’s brother, had only arrived much later.
The certificate was signed by Princess Anne, the daughter of Elizabeth II, who had accompanied the sovereign during her final hours.
On the latter one can read:
“Time of death: 3:10 p.m.”
“Cause: old age”
“Occupation: Her Majesty the Queen”
And Windsor Castle, on the western outskirts of London, appears there as its address. “usual”: she spent most of the time there since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, when Buckingham Palace in the capital is usually the main residence of British monarchs.
Elizabeth II’s last public appearance was on September 6, when she tasked new Prime Minister Liz Truss with forming a government. The sovereign then appeared smiling but frail, leaning on her cane.
Ten days of national mourning
In recent years, the palace had remained very discreet regarding the state of health of the sovereign. He had only revealed following leaks in the press his night of hospitalization a year ago for examinations, the nature of which has never been specified. Then, mobility problems had been mentioned, while she canceled many appearances.
Ten days of national mourning followed the Queen’s death. Tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of people lined up to go and pay their respects before his coffin first in Edinburgh, then in London, in Westminster.
Some 2,000 people, including heads of state and members of royal families, attended the state funeral in Westminster Abbey on September 19. But thousands of other people had crowded along the roads to see one last time the coffin of this immensely popular queen in her country.
The queen was buried in the chapel of Windsor Castle, 40 kilometers from London, alongside her husband Prince Philip, her parents and her sister.
The castle reopened on Thursday, attracting hundreds of people, who were able to see the tombstone of the late monarch at the Memorial George VI, father of Elizabeth II who died in 1952.
