LONDON — Queen Elizabeth II has died aged 96, Buckingham Palace said.
“The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow,” the palace said in a statement.
Flags across the U.K. were lowered to half-mast ahead of a national minute’s silence and the start of an official period of mourning.
Her eldest son Charles is expected to soon address the nation as king for the first time, with a coronation ceremony taking place at a later date.
As a young princess she first took on public duties during the Second World War, appearing on the radio and being appointed one of her father’s effective deputies as counsellor of state.
She married Philip Mountbatten in 1947, a marriage which lasted until his death in 2021 and produced four children: Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward.
She became queen in 1952 after the premature death of her father George VI, and went on to become both the country’s longest-lived and longest-serving monarch.
She is credited with revitalizing the monarchy, embarking on a seven-month world tour shortly after she took the throne and helping to secure the transition of the Empire into the Commonwealth of Nations. She traveled extensively in the Commonwealth even as an increasing number of African and Caribbean countries decolonized in the 1960s and 1970s.
The 1980s and 1990s saw one of the most difficult periods of her reign as press scrutiny of the royal family intensified with a particular focus on the unhappy marriage between Charles and Princess Diana.
The popularity of the family dipped in the queen’s annus horribilis of 1992, when Charles and Diana separated and a major fire broke out at Windsor Castle.
After Diana’s death in a car crash in 1997 the public briefly became openly hostile towards the queen amid an outpouring of grief, before she gave a personal tribute to the princess in a televised broadcast.
She has remained a constant in the life of all Britons and recovered her popularity to become more revered than ever, even as fresh scandals engulfed the family in recent years.
In a broadcast to the nation at the start of the COVID pandemic, the queen promised there were better days ahead. Echoing the words of a famous Vera Lynn wartime song, she said that “we will meet again.”
The queen has been affected by mobility problems over the last year and greatly reduced her public appearances, including missing the state opening of parliament in May and a service of thanksgiving to celebrate her seventy years on the throne. Just this week mobility concerns meant the queen had to appoint Liz Truss as U.K. prime minister — the 15th of her reign — from Balmoral Castle in Scotland rather than London’s Buckingham Palace.
A state funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey in ten days’ time, which will see the nation observe a two minutes’ silence, before the queen is buried at Windsor Castle.
King Charles will embark on a tour of the U.K., starting with a visit to the Scottish parliament and a service at St. Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.
This is so crazy. Queen longer than my grandma has been alive. Not particularly sad but y'know... end of an era
OMG this is huge
She lived for almost a century, that really puts thins in perspective
R.I.P
nytimes.com/live/2022/09/08/world/queen-elizabeth
*LIVE UPDATES* = QUEEN ELIZABETH II DIES AT 96
Ruled for Nearly 7 Decades; World’s Longest-Reigning Monarch
(Lots of good Photos too)
This is so crazy. Queen longer than my grandma has been alive. Not particularly sad but y'know... end of an era
End of an era. Exactly what I was gonna say.
So many crazy things have happened in the last 2 or 3 years.
End of an era. Exactly what I was gonna say.
So many crazy things have happened in the last 2 or 3 years.
Yep. I don't know if I'm enjoying this era of "things that never happened before". In the past year we went from a pandemic to a war to a full on energy crisis in Europe.. sigh...
This is the end of an era.
i did not want to learn about this on here 
It's truly the end of an era, she was the last link to a time that is now gone, the kind of world were britain was the main protagonist of the world and many european monarchies were still a thing.
everyone will miss
Genuinely thought she was going to outlive Charles. The world we live in. Rest In Peace.
She was perfectly fine two days ago.
She was perfectly fine two days ago.
With people her age things like this go really fast. Apparently she wasn’t that well off during this meeting as well.
Genuinely thought she was going to outlive Charles. The world we live in. Rest In Peace.
Many people thought that
It's truly the end of an era, she was the last link to a time that is now gone, the kind of world were britain was the main protagonist of the world and many european monarchies were still a thing.
This is actually pretty sad to observe. People like her were literally eyewitnesses of history. Especially since so much has change alone in the last 100 years and she is experienced almost all of it. May Her Soul Rest In Peace.
I thought she would be immortal, I'm still sad and shocked by the news
I read it online first thing this morning. Whilst I wasn't really a Royalist, she was an amazing monarch and did such good for not only The Royal Family but the world. She had been frail for some time and all the recent scandals and the death of Prince Philip was the last straw. Now Charles steps up to the plate. Hmm! R.I.P Queen Elizabeth.
God Save the Queen
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She was just all happy and threatening to take over the US again if our GOV keeps messing up. 
May she rest in peace. I shall 
