Country in mourning as death of Queen Elizabeth II confirmed

HM Queen Elizabeth Credit Kylie Ellwa/istock

The country is in mourning following the announcement of the death of Queen Elizabeth II today (September 8).

Buckingham Palace had issued a statement this morning saying doctors of the 96-year-old monarch were “concerned for Her Majesty’s health.”

During the day the Queen’s family travelled to Balmoral to be at her side.

This evening it was confirmed Queen Elizabeth passed away this afternoon.

 

Queen Elizabeth was the country’s longest serving monarch, celebrating 70 years on the throne this year.

She ascended the throne on the death of her father on February. 6, 1952, and was crowned on June 2, 1953 at Westminster Abbey.

She married Navy lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at London’s Westminster Abbey on November 20, 1947 and they had four children: Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

Prince Philip died in April last year, aged 99.

 

During her reign she was served by 15 prime ministers from Winston Churchill to Liz Truss.

Former Prince of Wales, and the Queen’s oldest child, Charles, will lead the country in mourning as the new King and head of state.

For those in Thanet wishing to leave a message, a book of condolence will be placed at the Thanet Gateway Plus building in Margate from Friday 9 September and throughout the official period of mourning.

An e-book of condolence will be available on the official Royal website https://orlo.uk/I7fpz

77 Comments

  1. Great Britain will never be the same again. I was born in the reign of George VI but Elizabeth II covered the greater part of my life and personified the British nation.
    Will Charles III have the same impact upon us? I doubt it because he has been Prince Charles for too long. His mother should have given him a much earlier opportunity to be monarch.

  2. Sad news indeed. Eisenhower was U.S. President when she was crowned. J.F.K. would not be President for another nine years.
    Long live the King!

    • I do hope that Turner Contemporary (a venue where the Queen visited) will do something to celebrate her life.

      I’m so glad I went to a Jubilee event in the summer, even if it was just a lighting of a beacon and a brass band. I guess we all knew that this would be the last time.

      • Indeed.
        I’d never recognised a Jubilee before, but this last one had a poignancy. I’m glad I saw the Fort Hill beacon lit and have photographs of the event. Remembering both the late Queen and her namesake’s repulsing of an Armada.

  3. I was leaning out of my father’s office window on the third floor of a building in Haymarket near Trafalgar Square with my mother hanging on to my legs when the coronation procession went past. A very special memory.

  4. So, a little old lady of 96, who by an accident of birth was head of state, and who I never voted for once, dies! Half the nation are indifferent to, or like me loath, the monarchy, and seeing all the sycophantic headlines this morning in national newspapers, and on the news, sickened me! When will this country grow up, and become a modern republic, like most other countries? Monarchy’s serve one purpose, they sell newspapers, and stop people thinking how the country is being run and looted by governments! Duurh.

    • I quite agree, Dumpton. In this day and age there should be no hereditary privilege and the monarchy should be ended. Their wealth confiscated with no more ancient titles. That goes for the honours list, too. All this bowing and touching the forelock to our betters is humiliating. We are citizens, not subjects.
      I look out of the window and the world is the same. The Queen’s death has left no impact. It is all drama and nothing else.

    • Dumpton you never publish your real name do you? You are a gutless coward. Plus a nasty vindictive old man. I suggest you keep your views to yourself at this very sad time.

      • Laurence, everyone is entitled to their views. Even opposite views to your own.
        It is called free speech. Or should we all be sent to the Tower of London to await our heads being removed?

        • Robert. Yes people entitled to their own views. Why do you think I didn’t respond to your first comment? You raised a valid point and was moderate in your comment. Dumpton or whoever he or she is has a track record on this site of making very offensive comments whilst hiding away. Not often I agree with Phyllis Quot in her post of 10.41.

    • I think that there are times when it’s more appropriate to keep your views to yourself, especially when publishing them is guaranteed to upset many people.

          • RIP to the Queen and condolences to the family. However it’s life she’s had a great health life and she is one of many many people passed away yesterday. We have many people this winter that will die of starvation and freeze to death with the cold.
            I would say the queen would have wanted business as usual. The Governments need to be held to task, sewage seeping into the sea, borrowing billions. Etc Etc. Whilst the Queens passing is sad can’t live in the past.
            I’ll get slated for this but clearly can’t have an opinion

    • You are of course due to the democracy of this great country of ours , are entitled to your opinion but I think your timing is very poor ,insensitive and inappropriate when so many people in this country who loved and admired our loyal and dutiful Queen are feeling sadness or are grieving at her passing
      Now is not the time for bringing up Republicanism , a subject which will look ridiculous when we see how this country will mourn the Queen at her funeral ,something that I instinctively know this country will do very well and with the eyes of the world watching

      • Rocester, I have no intention of mourning the Queen for the simple reason she means nothing to me. I never knew her nor was she related to me.
        The Royals are a disgrace, starting with Prince Andrew, the Queen’s favourite.
        Least said about Harry and Meghan.

        • It’s your prerogative to not grieve or care about the Queen’s passing , you’ve made your unpleasant views known during a sensitive time for this great country of ours but enough now out of respect for the people with a different view to yours
          I’m actually surprised that people like you and your views aren’t also complaining about the wall to wall coverage on tv of the Queens passing , and moaning about sport , I.e , football matches that have been cancelled .
          I mean , how inconvenient for you ! Lol.

    • For much of my life I held Republican views. However, having looked at “Presidents” the World over…
      From Willy Brandt, to Bill Clinton, to George W. and Putin. I’m no longer keen on the idea. Whatever their faults, Royalty is far harder than temporary talking headship.
      Rather Charles than Keir, Liz or anyone else of their ilk.

      • Harry the presidents you mentioned were all elected, and had real power, the Queen was unelected, and had no power except that granted to her by parliament! But the monarchy’s role is to distract people from what is really taking place in the country, see my post further down.

    • Dumpton – You are one unfeeling clown and obviously devoid of any common decency. You are a symptom of what’s wrong in Thanet.

    • The reason why I do not use my name is because in the past I have received vile screaming insults from neo NAZI skin heads who also pulled up plants from my front garden, because they disagreed with my views Peter! Earlier I had provided a comparison between my mother who was 6 years older than the Queen, and the sometimes brutal life she had, and who died at 76 twenty years younger than the Queen, but it wasn’t printed!

      Long ago I discovered that really ill informed, ignorant, and sometimes stupid people are unaware they are ill informed, ignorant, and sometimes stupid, and are easily indoctrinated (Brainwashed!) I quite expected to receive a load of vitriol from this type about my views on the monarchy, because these people are not aware the monarchy is there as a distraction!

      According to a piece in the Independent newspaper dated 6th June, the monarchy are worth some £72.5 billion net! But where did all this wealth come from? Well, mostly from wars, but a good deal came from monasteries that were seized by Henry V111, and later from slavery (Google it) So, why are people distraught by someone descended from such unsavoury characters? Brain washing is an easy answer, and also because royalty provides a great source of wealth for newspaper, and magazine publishers!

      Modern day deference to the monarchy has taken the place of the struggle between secularism, and religious fundamentalism, with fundamentalism’s struggle to take over all forms of government in many countries, that has become more and more intolerant, like some of the views expressed after this!

      • Reading this from Dumpton made me laugh as it reminded me of the famous Monty Python
        “ Constitutional peasant “ sketch where King Arthur meets some of his peasant subjects .
        Check it out on YouTube . It’s very funny .
        There is such a strong resemblance to that sketch and what Dumpton has written , that it’s bordering on plagiarism . Lol

        • Rockstar, your mocking of Dumpton tells us one thing. That you have one thing in common … you both lack the moral courage to use your real names.
          So you attack Dumpton to smokescreen your own lack of integrity.
          Monty Python has nothing to do with.

  5. Robert Edwards, on another thread, you were spouting on about your love of Russia and Putin, so you are obviously a communist. Do us all a favour and go and live there. You will soon change your mind.
    If you don’t wish to hear or see anything about the passing of our Great Monarch, you don’t have to read a paper or watch the TV, get your passport sorted and I will drive you to the airport at no cost.

    • James Gibbons, I have never used the word love in relation to Russia. Neither am I a communist and never have been.
      Going to Russia did not change the minds of Burgess and McLean.
      I have no plans to visit any other country but I am perfectly happy to live in this land of hypocrisy and humbug … and to comment on it.

  6. This is the de facto end of the monarchy. The Queen was a legend in every respect but her son is not. I don’t see anyone holding him in any esteem.

  7. You are right, Joris Bonson. Charles could never match that unique mystique created for Her Maj. If he dropped dead tomorrow few would shed tears.
    Let us hope you are right re the end of the monarchy.

    • And let’s be honest here the further you go down the generations..Charles, Harry, Beatrice et al the exponentially worse they get

  8. Very impressive speech to the nation from our new King , Charles the 3rd . Surely this has got his reign off to the best possible start.
    I like that he’s made Prince William the new Prince of Wales , and surely the newspapers will shut up and stirring after his reference of his love to Prince Harry & Meghan .
    It takes a bit of getting used to that the Queen has died and only on Tuesday she was still doing her duty meeting Truss .

    • Rockstar, I admire your optimism but think it misplaced. Many will be tempted to refer to the King as Charles the Turd (especially those with an Irish accent). We have a new Prime Minister who is out of her depth and a new King who will probably be the last King of England. He just doesn’t project the qualities of a monarch (too long in the wilderness).

  9. Robert ,I disagree with you . Quite to the contrary I have an Irish friend who is ex British military who has a British Empire Medal ( B.E.M) for his remarkable service to this country and to The Queen who he had met on several occasions and I think you wouldn’t dare repeat to his face the disrespectful term that you’ve just used to describe our new monarch .
    I agree with you on one thing and that is that I think the Queen should have stepped aside for Charles a few years ago but historians/ royal experts are saying that was never going to happen .
    I think that Charles has an hard act to follow in his mother and his reign due to his age not royal relevance might not be long ,maybe a decade but I think that with Prince William as his strong and popular heir , the country will have a royal family for many decades to come ….
    Sorry that will disappoint you ! Lol
    I do agree with you though on another point , and I too don’t see Truss as being our PM for long
    There were some good speeches in Parliament today about Queenie from Boris , Theresa May ……and Keir Starmer who had some good lines .

    • Btw . For the record . King Charles the 3rd is not the King of England as you so wrongly put it .
      Stay behind after class to do some extra British Monarchy history classes . Lol

      • I was aware that Charles the Turd is more than king of England. I was using an ancient title to emphasise its age-old origin. After the Scots and Welsh break away, it may be prophetic of me.

    • Rockstar, I shall ignore your veiled threat of physical violence from your Irish friend. You and he obviously have no sense of humour.
      Hereditary monarchs are now out of date (as with the Saudis, for example) and their days will come eventually. Young people are not as enthusiastic as the reactionary old farts on here. They can see how anachronistic it all is. It has now lost any relevance since the passing of the Queen.

    • So Rockstar, Charles the turd is often seen in the uniform of a colonel/ admiral, weighed down with a ton of medals, yet he was never in the armed forces, and has never seen a days action! In my army people over 60 years ago you were only awarded medals for active service, that actually meant being shot at, and shooting back! Its pure hypocrisy! Charles has more decorations than any Christmas tree!

          • Robert Edwards having not reached old age yet but knowing many in ‘old age’ they feel that they have many privileges and two are not being rude and abusive. I’m pleased to think ‘it is wasted on you’ meaning me. As far as ‘you abuse the privilege’ I think your comments and previous comments on other threads earlier this year calling a County Councillor ‘an-obese scruff-bag’ says a lot about your attitude to others. Anyway that’s my final word. I cannot be bothered to waste anymore time. Cheer up we have a new monarch God Save the King.

  10. Another thread hijacked by people on both sides wanting to cause yet more division. Have some respect. Whatever your feelings do not weaponise the death of a 96 year old lady.

    Disgusting and this is from both sides throwing insults about. Grow up.

    • The issue is the relevance of the monarchy in this day and age. The passing away of the Queen presents an opportunity to discuss this. The abuse comes from the supporters of the monarchy. One of them actually using the threat of physical violence. They do not tolerate an opposing view to theirs. So much for freedom and democracy.

      • Robert Edwards, in my opinion, there was no veiled threats of vioence from Rockstars friend, it was more a figure of speech.

        You are so disrespectful in your posts.

        Our Monarch aged 96 has just passed away.

        To many, many people in this country, she meant sonething.

        Her loyalty to this country, was remarkable.

        She was even working up to two days before her death when she was clearly seriously ill.

        Yes, we are lucky in this country to be afforded ‘freedom of speech’.

        Do you really think this is the right time to air your anti royalist comments.

        Have some respect, for a lady who has just passed away.

        Our remarkable Monarch of
        70 years.

        I think she was wonderful!

        • Shar Winters I appreciate and Thank you for your support of my previous non threatening comments which Mr Edwards he has twisted and is now playing the victim .
          There are times like now when a person like him comes on this platform and makes toxic and unpleasant comments and it makes one wonder if it’s worth using this platform
          So , Shar Winter you’ve restored my faith that one can and should be able to express one’s own thoughts without being trolled by the likes of him

          • Rockstar, you have to come to terms with the idea that with one particular view there is always an equal and opposite point of view. A bit like Newton’s law of physics. Toxic and unpleasant are not acceptable terms and you need to retain composure. Play the game without personal attacks.

  11. Shar Winters, you are entitled to your point as I am to mine.
    With the passing of a monarch, it is the perfect time to re-assess the monarchy.
    We now have a king who befriended Jimmy Savile and would visit him in his croft in Scotland. The Queen gave Savile an OBE and knighthood. All the time, people in high places knew all about Savile and protected him. This has now transpired.
    And you wonder why I am anti-monarchy.
    Let us not forget Prince Andrew, the Queen’s favourite. It all stinks.

    • Robert Edwards.
      Are we going to judge an entire system of government that has existed for a millennium for hundreds of millions of Britons on the basis of a few indiscretions and mistakes by human individuals.
      What about Clinton, Lewinsky and the cigar? What about recent revelations about the late K.F.K. household? What about Bolsonaro, the two Ferdinand Marcos’ Zuma, Berlusconi, Brandt, to name but a few.
      The above list is precisely why over the past couple of decades I’ve moved from favouring a republic to our existing system.

  12. Harry Webb, the history of Britain has been one of systematic exploitation of the ordinary folk by a ruling class.
    Successive governments have coalesced in this. We have not had universal suffrage for a thousand years. In the 1930s, only householders had the vote. It took the suffragettes to get women the vote.
    We have to go yet one more step forward by abolishing the monarchy … an unelected privileged family based on hereditary succession.

  13. Britain is now in a very sorry state since the passing of the Queen. A prime minister with a dull monotone delivery and without a clue what to do next. Along with an ageing king, once a close friend of Jimmy Savile. What more could you want? The future looks very bleak, indeed.

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