Queen Elizabeth II died yesterday at the age of 96. She was the longest-reigning monarch in British history, and the presiding figure over a period of profound change. Almost nobody alive remembers a world without her.
The Queen’s death was announced by Buckingham Palace at 6.30pm; her family had travelled to Balmoral earlier in the day as her condition worsened. A vast crowd quickly appeared at Buckingham Palace as the notice of her death was posted at the gate, and there was an immediate outpouring of grief in the UK and throughout the Commonwealth countries where she was also queen. Her death led Le Monde, El País, the New York Times, Argentina’s Clarín, and Japan’s Asahi Shimbun.
