The death of Queen Elizabeth II has shocked the world with an epicenter in London. The Queen passed away today at age 96 after serving as Queen for over 70 years.
The Queen was surrounded by family when she passed. Britain’s royal family rushed to be with Queen Elizabeth after doctors said they were concerned about the health of the 96-year-old monarch on Thursday.
The Queen, Britain’s longest-reigning sovereign, and the world’s oldest monarch, had been suffering from what Buckingham Palace called “episodic mobility problems” since the end of last year.
Last October, Queen Elizabeth spent a night in the hospital and she had been forced to cut back on public engagements since then. On Wednesday she canceled a virtual meeting with senior ministers after being advised to rest by her doctors.
Today, September 8, 2022, it was announced that the Queen had passed peacefully surrounded by her family.
Queen Elizabeth’s visit to Puerto Vallarta in 1983
Queen Elizabeth visited the beaches of Puerto Vallarta in 1983, which at that time was considered one of the most important and beautiful tourist places in the country. Here the royal couple was received by Mayor Jorge Leobardo Lepe García, Jalisco Governor Flavio Romero Velasco, and the President of the Republic, who carried out a ceremony where the keys to the city were delivered to the Queen.
Record-breaking reign
Elizabeth has been the Queen of Britain and more than a dozen other countries since 1952, including Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and earlier this year marked her 70th year on the throne with four days of national celebrations in June.
“I have been inspired by the kindness, joy and kinship that has been so evident in recent days, and I hope this renewed sense of togetherness will be felt for many years to come,” she said at the time.
Elizabeth came to the throne after the death of her father King George VI on Feb. 6, 1952, when she was just 25.
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 scrutinized by the media.
She became monarch at a time when Britain retained much of its empire. It was emerging from the ravages of World War Two, with food rationing still in force and class and privilege still dominant in society.
Winston Churchill was the first prime minister who served during her reign, Joseph Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union, and the Korean War was raging.
Here are some facts about Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.
- Elizabeth was born at 17 Bruton St, London, on April 21, 1926, and christened on May 29 that year in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace.
- She became heir apparent when her uncle, Edward VIII, abdicated on Dec. 11, 1936, and her father became King George VI. She was 10 years old.
- She married navy lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, a Greek prince, at London’s Westminster Abbey on Nov. 20, 1947. They had four children: Prince Charles (born in 1948), Princess Anne (1950), Prince Andrew (1960) and Prince Edward (1964). Philip died in April 2021, aged 99.
- She ascended the throne on the death of her father on Feb. 6, 1952, while she was in Kenya on a royal tour. She was crowned on June 2, 1953 at Westminster Abbey, the first ever coronation to be televised.
- When she ascended the throne, Josef Stalin, Mao Zedong and Harry Truman were leading the Soviet Union, China and the United States, while Winston Churchill was British prime minister.
- She has been served by 15 prime ministers. During her reign, there have been 14 U.S. presidents, all of whom she has met bar Lyndon Johnson.
- On Sept. 9, 2015, she surpassed the 63 years, 7 months, 2 days, 16 hours and 23 minutes that her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria spent on the throne to become the country’s longest-reigning monarch in a line dating back to Norman King William the Conqueror in 1066.
- Elizabeth remains queen of 15 realms including the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tuvalu.
- She celebrated her Platinum Jubilee – the 70th anniversary of her accession – on Feb. 6, 2022.
