Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has died at the age of 96, Buckingham Palace announced on Thursday.
The Queen breathed her last at Balmoral Castle where she was under “medical supervision”. The tragic news left millions of her fans crying and mourning.
Queen’s sons, daughters, grandchildren and in-laws as well as public figures were around her at a difficult time.
The family has dropped everything to rush to the royal estate after Buckingham Palace released a concerning statement this morning.
Her son, Prince Charles, is at Balmoral with his wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.
Her grandson, the Duke of Cambridge, other sons, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex, and his wife Sophie, the Countess of Wessex, arrived at Aberdeen airport just before 16:00 BST.
Queen Elizabeth II, who was also the world’s oldest and longest-serving head of state, came to the throne following the death of her father King George VI on February 6, 1952.
She was crowned in June the following year. The first televised coronation was a foretaste of a new world in which the lives of the royals were to become increasingly scrutinised by the media.
Official mourning
Television and radio stations interrupted regular programming to broadcast the news, with long-rehearsed special schedules set in place to remember her long life and reign.
The national anthem, “God Save the Queen”, was played. Flags were lowered and church bells tolled to remember a woman once described as the “last global monarch”.
The national mourning period will culminate in a final public farewell at Westminster Abbey in central London.
Charles’ coronation, an elaborate ritual steeped in tradition and history, will take place in the same historic surroundings, as it has for centuries, on a date to be fixed.
The Queen had been struggling with her health since the death of the Duke of Edinburgh.
Since last autumn she’s had to pull out of a series of public events because of what seemed to be persistent problems with her mobility, often handing over duties to Prince Charles.
Remembrance Sunday, the Maundy Thursday service, the annual Commonwealth Service and the State Opening of Parliament have been among the events where health issues stopped the Queen from taking part over the past 12 months.
Prince William drove them alone in a car together to the Queen’s Scottish estate, a journey of about 40 miles (64km).
