Nation’s grief as the Queen dies ‘peacefully’ at her beloved Balmoral
THE nation is today shrouded in grief after the Queen died ‘peacefully’ at Balmoral yesterday at the age of 96. As her distraught family gathered at her Highland home, the new King – who will be known as Charles III – last night spoke of their ‘greatest sadness’ and said her death would be ‘deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world’.
Crowds carrying floral tributes gathered at the gates of Buckingham Palace as well as Windsor and Balmoral Castles, numbed at the passing of not only an icon of grace, duty and dignity, but the single monarch that many have ever known.
Many will today wake up struggling to imagine their country without its Queen, who marked an historic 70 years on the throne in June. The news of her death sparked a wave of tributes both at home and abroad, led by the Prime Minister, who hailed the Queen as ‘ the rock on which modern Britain was built’ and described her death as the end of the second Elizabethan age. Liz Truss concluded: ‘Today the crown passes, as it has done for more than a thousand years, to our new monarch, our new head of state, His Majesty King Charles III. God save the King.’
Boris Johnson, who until this week was the Queen’s 14th prime minister, said Britain was enduring its ‘saddest day’ following the death of ‘Elizabeth the Great’.
Summing up the views of many, he added: ‘She seemed so timeless and so wonderful that I am afraid we had come to believe, like children, that she would just go on and on.’
Tonight Charles will give his first televised address to the country and Commonwealth as King, which he will have recorded earlier in the day.
Sources said he has a ‘clear idea of what he intends to say’.
His late father’s desk has been brought to him from which to deliver the TV address, a poignant tribute to Prince Philip, who died in April last year and whose loss his mother felt so keenly.
While the Queen’s health and determination to carry out her God-given duties was steadfast to the last – she met both her incoming and outgoing prime ministers on Tuesday as well carrying out a string of other private duties – her frailty had recently become impossible to ignore.
Meetings took place in the last two weeks to discuss the discharge of all but essential duties to her son and heir. On Wednesday evening Buckingham Palace said the Queen had been forced to cancel a virtual privy council meeting after being advised by her doctors to rest.
Then word began to leak out that she had taken a turn for the worse early yesterday morning. Buckingham Palace released a statement at 12.32pm saying the Queen’s doctors were ‘ concerned’ for her health and recommended she remain under medical supervision while family members were informed.
Charles was already at his mother’s side at her beloved Highland home after senior aides, fearing the worst, sent the Queen’s burgundy-liveried helicopter up from Windsor at 6.48am to collect him from Dumfries House in Ayrshire, where he had stayed the night after conducting several official engagements. He made it to Balmoral by 10.27am.
His wife, the Duchess of Cornwall – now Queen Consort, as Elizabeth II requested earlier this year – was already at Birkhall, the couple’s Scottish retreat, and was driven over by car to join him.
It is understood that the Queen’s daughter, Princess Anne, was already with her mother as she had been undertaking engagements in the area.
Staff hurriedly arranged for a jet to collect the Queen’s other children – Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, and Prince Andrew, the Duke of York – as well as the Countess of Wessex, whom the Queen adores and treats like a second daughter – and bring them up to Aberdeen.
Her grandson, Prince William – who, until the King bestows the title of Prince and Princess of Wales on himself and his wife, will be known as the Duke of Cornwall and Cambridge – joined them.
His wife Kate remained with their three children, who have recently started a new school.
The sombre family group arrived in Scotland at 4pm, sweeping through the gates at Balmoral in a Range Rover driven by William at 5.06pm. Although Buckingham Palace has not confirmed the time of death, it is thought that they were unable to see their muchloved matriarch before she died.
By coincidence the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – now sadly estranged from most family members – were in Britain from their home in California and due to undertake a charity engagement in London before flying back home to their children.
There was confusion when their spokesman initially said that both Harry and Meghan would fly up to Balmoral to join the family, which caused surprise as spouses would normally be unlikely to join close relatives at a time of personal grief.
But it was later confirmed that Harry would travel alone and he finally arrived at his grandmother’s home at 7.52pm. He was still in the air when the death was confirmed. The Queen’s death was finally announced at 6.32pm in a short black- edged statement from Buckingham Palace which read simply: ‘The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The King and The Queen Consort will remain at
‘There’s a deep sense of shock’
Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.’
Today Operation London Bridge will swing into action, the period of ten days between the Queen’s death and her state funeral, which is expected to take place on Monday September 19, as the country is plunged into a period of official mourning.
The Queen’s coffin is expected to remain at Balmoral for at least the next two days before being flown back down to London next week.
But the pendulum to introduce His Majesty to his people will also begin to swing, with Charles and Camilla returning to London as King and Queen Consort today.
He is expected to hold his Accession Council tomorrow.
Last night Miss Truss hosted a meeting of ministers, police and royal officials to discuss arrangements for the period of mourning leading up to the Queen’s funeral.
The Union flag on Buckingham Palace was poignantly lowered to half-mast yesterday, while a framed plaque of the statement announcing the Queen’s death was placed on the front gates by royal household staff.
The Royal Standard is never flown at half mast, even after the Queen’s death, as there is always a monarch on the throne. Flags will fly at halfmast on UK Government buildings in tribute to the Queen from now until the morning after her funeral.
Many of the royal household’s staff were in tears yesterday, coming to terms with the loss of their much-loved boss, as well as the head of state.
One said: ‘However much you try to prepare yourself for his moment, it just hits you like a ton of bricks. She is irreplaceable. I just can’t believe we won’t see that impish smile again. There is a deep sense of shock.’
The Queen’s cause of death has not been revealed yet. Last autumn she was kept in hospital overnight for tests, details of which have never been disclosed by Buckingham Palace, but the incident signalled the start of a significant withdrawal from public duties and long periods of rest.
One source with close links to the royal household said she had not been suffering from any chronic condition, but had recently lost a lot of weight and was ‘feeling all the aches and pains that a 96-year- old woman would be expected to feel and has suffered terrible problems with her sore feet’.
Fortunately she had enjoyed one of her happiest summers in recent years, entertaining family and friends at Balmoral. By her side was Angela Kelly, the Liverpudlian dock worker’s daughter who has risen to become her right-hand woman with the title of Personal Assistant, Adviser and Curator to Her Majesty The Queen.
‘She’s been wrapping the Queen up in cotton wool,’ a source said yesterday. ‘She’s been very over protective and ensuring that Her Majesty hasn’t been doing too much.’
The Queen’s last major public appearance was at the close of her Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June.
‘Wrapping her up in cotton wool’
SO passes the figurehead, matriarch and defining symbol of Britain’s greatest generation. Through war and peace, blitz and reconstruction, strife and social change, the Queen has been a constant presence. A source of strength, continuity and reassurance.
With her death, a light which helped guide this nation through 70 momentous years has faded out.
At Balmoral yesterday, surrounded by her close family, she slipped peacefully away. And though she was 96, her death still comes as a huge emotional jolt.
Just three days ago, she was saying farewell to her 14th prime minister and welcoming her 15th into office, clearly frailer than she once was but smiling and chatting animatedly.
Today she is gone and her subjects and countless friends across the globe join her family in their mourning.
From Europe to the US, across the Commonwealth and beyond, tributes and good wishes pour in, demonstrating that she truly was, in Mail royal expert Robert Hardman’s phrase, Queen of the World.
In this country, Elizabeth II was more than simply a sovereign. Loved and admired in equal measure, she was both role model and friend to her people. She felt their sorrows, she shared in their joys. Millions of subjects will feel her loss as keenly as if she were close family. And the most momentous chapter of our island story comes to a close.
The sheer longevity of the Queen’s reign is remarkable in itself – the longest of any British monarch. Indeed noone under 75 can really remember anyone else on the throne.
She witnessed the Great Depression as a child, served in the struggle against Nazism and came to the throne during the Korean War.
At the start of her reign the British Empire still comprised more than 70 countries and territories.
Food was still rationed and national service compulsory. Computers were the size of houses, independent television didn’t exist and mobile phones were the stuff of science fiction.
The Queen presided over some of the most seismic changes this country has ever known. And through it all she has been the embodiment of duty and public service.
At Buckingham Palace, she hosted heroes and tyrants from Nelson Mandela to Romania’s Nicolae Ceaucescu – all received with the same unfailing good grace.
Her personal life was not always easy. The family suffered multiple shocks during her reign, some of them apparently existential and none of them her fault. But every time she managed to steady the listing ship.
In all her endeavours, she was blessed in her choice of life partner. Prince Philip, ‘her strength and stay’, stood resolutely by her at all times. Confidant, adviser, husband and comforter, he was her anchor through the storms of life.
His death last year was a grievous loss which clearly affected Her Majesty profoundly. She was never quite the same afterwards.
With the Queen’s death, the Royal Family reaches a watershed. So universally respected was she that republicans had little option but to hold their fire. They will soon be out of their foxholes and in these days of howling social media, speculation about the future of the monarchy will inevitably be turbocharged.
There will be the usual stale arguments about whether a modern democracy should be headed by someone who is there only by accident of birth, while class warriors will point at their privilege and their palaces.
But we have heard it all before and the family has come a long way since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales – the last time it seemed to be in mortal danger. It has modernised and slimmed down and despite the best efforts of Andrew, Harry and Meghan to drag it into the gutter, the important members are doing an excellent job.
After a distinctly rocky period after Diana’s death, Prince Charles has grown into his role of king-in-waiting and proved to be right on many important issues of the day – not least the environment.
Camilla, once less than popular, has become the perfect consort. Her calm demeanour, easy charm and formidable charity work have won over the doubters and she will make a good queen.
In the next generation, the monarchy has some serious star quality. Kate has been a revelation, looking and acting every inch the princess and bringing her naturally shy husband out of his shell. Clearly besotted with each other and their three children, one feels that when the time comes the monarchy will be safe in their hands.
The rift between William and his brother is a tragedy but it is all of Harry and Meghan’s making. They want the privileges and trappings of royal life without any of the obligations. But even America is becoming sick of their preposterous witterings and relentless attention seeking. They do not pose any lasting threat.
WE must also applaud the part of Princess Anne in upholding the Queen’s dedication to duty. Invariably the most hardworking royal, she has been a true credit to her parents and her country.
Britain has been ruled by constitutional monarchy since 1688. While other nations have succumbed to revolution and political extremism, Britain has been a beacon of democratic stability.
The role of the sovereign in government may be largely symbolic but it is of crucial importance.
Our head of state is above the fray of petty politics yet ensures the smooth transfer of power between governments.
An elected president would inevitably have a political bias and agenda. Consider the Queen and then think of some alternatives – President Blair or, God forbid, President Corbyn. One of the Queen’s greatest legacies is that she shaped and cherished the Commonwealth. From the acrimony and tumult that marked the end of empire, a brotherhood of nations emerged.
Even countries which were never British colonies have joined, showing its appeal as a mutually supportive commercial and political union.
It is here the new king will need to emulate his mother’s seemingly effortless diplomacy if the organisation is to survive in its present form.
Although he becomes head of state in 14 Commonwealth countries including Canada, Jamaica, Australia and New Zealand, there is rising republican sentiment in most. While his mother was alive it was muted. Now she’s gone it will certainly be louder.
But that is for the future. For now he and the rest of the family, though bereaved, will no doubt be reflecting on her remarkable life and the new Elizabethan age she ushered in.
It’s hard to believe she’s really gone, such has been her unique and lasting place in our national life.
Not born to be queen but propelled into the role of heir presumptive after the abdication of her uncle, Edward VIII, and sovereign at just 25 on the untimely death of her father, she evolved into the consummate monarch.
In her first major speech, delivered in Cape Town on her 21st birthday, the then Princess Elizabeth made this pledge to her people: ‘I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.’
It is a promise she kept faithfully to the end. As always, she was as good as her word.