Elizabeth, the Queen of England, the world’s oldest monarch, has passed. He died this afternoon at Balmoral, Scotland, at the age of 96. The Queen was holidaying at Balmoral, her Scottish estate near Aberdeen, where she took ill and could not recover from.
Queen Elizabeth II, the head of the British royal family, was the second-longest reigning monarch in world history. She ruled for over 70 years.
Louis XIV of France remains the longest-reigning monarch, with a 72-year and 110-day reign from 1643 until 1715. Queen Elizabeth II became the longest-serving British monarch surpassing her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria.
The Queen succeeded to the Throne on 6 February 1952 on her father’s death, King George VI. She was in Kenya then and became the first Sovereign in over 200 years to accede while abroad. She was 25 years old then.
Her children and grandchildren have gathered at Balmoral since the news broke of concerns about the Queen’s health.
Queen Elizabeth went to Balmorallate in July and expected to return to Windsor next month.
Balmoral has served as a private retreat for the British royals for over 150 years since Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, purchased the castle and the surrounding 7,000-acre estate. At Balmoral, the royals usually like to entertain friends, picnic, hold dances and go on shooting parties in the highlands.
Though the queen and the Duke of Edinburgh spent most of last year in Windsor Castle, where they began isolating in March 2020, they were able to continue the tradition of spending the summer in Balmoral last August. The holiday took place with new precautions, with staff forming a “Balmoral bubble” and visitors social distancing during encounters with the queen and Prince Philip.
