Queen Elizabeth II died peacefully in her Platinum Jubilee 12 months on the age of 96.
The longest-reigning monarch in British historical past had devoted her life to royal responsibility.
Abdication was by no means an choice after she promised to proceed to rule for the remainder of her days.
She was nonetheless finishing up official engagements with out fuss or grievance as she neared 100, when most individuals would have retired 35 years earlier.
The late Queen symbolised the steadiness of the nation, and most of the people had identified no different monarch on the British throne.
Throughout her lifetime, penicillin was found, man landed on the Moon, Britain obtained its first girl prime minister, and the web was invented.
At her aspect for 73 years was Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, her outspoken consort, with whom she fell in love as a youngster when he was a naval cadet, and who died on the age of 99 in 2021.
The late Queen was passive, cautious and traditional.
She was stoical, composed, pragmatic and personal, but additionally possessed a dry sense of humour and a pointy wit and was identified for her love of outside life, horses, racing and corgis.
The primary British monarch in historical past to succeed in her Platinum Jubilee, she additionally turned the longest-reigning still-serving monarch on this planet.
Queen Elizabeth II was the royal household’s rock, in style with the general public, and untainted by the Home of Windsor’s scandals.
Even after the divorces of three of her 4 youngsters, the dying of Diana, Princess of Wales, when the monarchy confronted its gravest disaster for the reason that abdication of King Edward VIII, the saga of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and the controversy surrounding the Duke of York, the late Queen remained a steadfast determine.
Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary of York was born at 2.40am on April 21 1926 on the residence of her maternal grandparents in Mayfair.
She was by no means anticipated to be queen, however the abdication of her uncle, Edward VIII, in 1936 modified every little thing, leaving her father as King George VI and making his eldest daughter Elizabeth the heiress presumptive.
On her twenty first birthday, the princess vowed in a radio broadcast that “my complete life, whether or not or not it’s lengthy or brief, shall be dedicated to your service”.
Princess Elizabeth and her distant cousin Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten had been married for lower than 5 years when their lives had been altered irrevocably by the dying of George VI on February 6 1952.
The princess was simply 25 when she turned queen. She went on to reign for 70 years, seven months and two days.
A 12 months in the past on Friday, Queen Elizabeth II was at Balmoral Citadel in Scotland the place she had been having fun with her annual summer season vacation.
However fears for her well being dramatically escalated on September 8 2022 when the Palace introduced the monarch was below medical supervision at her Aberdeenshire residence and her docs had been involved.
Simply two days earlier than, on September 6, she had been finishing up official duties, appointing Liz Truss because the prime minister.
She regarded bright-eyed however worryingly diminutive and frail in stature as she was pictured stood, with assistance from her strolling stick, ready in her Drawing Room in entrance of a lit hearth.
Queen Elizabeth II had struggled along with her mobility for a while, and at her Jubilee celebrations three months earlier, secretly used a wheelchair behind the scenes to make it onto the Palace balcony.
On September 7, royal docs ordered her to relaxation and postpone her Privy Council assembly.
Then rumours concerning her well being started to flow into early on the morning of September 8, and hours later at 12.32pm the Palace launched its regarding assertion.
The Princess Royal was already on the late Queen’s bedside and the then-Prince of Wales had flown from Dumfries Home to be along with her that morning after being alerted about her situation, whereas the then-Duchess of Cornwall travelled by street from Birkhall.
The monarch’s different youngsters, the Duke of York and the then-Earl of Wessex – together with the then-Duke of Cambridge and Countess of Wessex – made the pressing sprint to Scotland on a Royal Air Pressure flight to say their last farewells.
The Duke of Sussex, who was in London for a WellChild occasion, initially deliberate to journey with the Duchess of Sussex to Balmoral.
Ultimately, he flew alone, individually from the remainder of the royals, after being requested by Charles to not deliver Meghan.
However in the long run they had been all too late. The late Queen died at 3.10pm, her dying certificates later revealed, with the trigger listed as “previous age”.
Information of the monarch’s demise and the accession of Charles as King was introduced to the world by Buckingham Palace simply over three hours later at 6.30pm that night.
Tributes started to pour in from throughout the globe. US president Joe Biden and his spouse Jill stated “Queen Elizabeth II was a stateswoman of unmatched dignity and fidelity”.
French president Emmanuel Macron known as her “a good friend of France, a kind-hearted queen who has left an enduring impression on her nation and her century”.
Over the subsequent 11 days, the London Bridge plans within the occasion of the sovereign’s dying had been meticulously put into place.
Queen Elizabeth II was honoured with processions, vigils, a mendacity in state, a grand state funeral in Westminster Abbey and a poignant committal service in Windsor.