Queen Elizabeth II, The Longest-Reigning Monarch, Dies At Age 96
08.09.2022 - 20:41
/ etcanada.com
Queen Elizabeth II, one of the world’s most famous people and a storied figure in history, has died at age 96, and her son Charles is set to ascend the throne as king.
The iconic royal died surrounded by members of her immediate family at Balmoral Castle on Thursday.
A woman born into the Royal family, she was never expected to become queen.
Born April 21, 1926, her life took a wild turn — one of immeasurable consequence — when her uncle, King Edward VIII, abdicated the throne in 1936, passing the crown and all its duties to his brother, young Elizabeth’s father.
In one fell swoop, she was next in line to the throne.
Her accession in 1952 came earlier than many expected, when she was just 25. Her father had succumbed to his many illnesses, including lung cancer, leaving the throne vacant for his young daughter.
She would go on to become the longest-reigning British monarch — 70 years on the throne — leading her kingdom and Commonwealth through the Cold War and space race, revolutions in Eastern and Central Europe, the advent of the internet, the British Invasion, the war on terror and London tube bombings, and the establishment of the European Union, not to mention in her later reigning years SARS, Brexit and COVID-19.
“You name it, she has seen the 20th century first-hand,” said Our Queen author Robert Hardman.
In Canada, Louis St. Laurent was prime minister when the queen ascended the throne and became this country’s sixth sovereign since Confederation. She went on to meet almost every successive prime minister — at least, those who were in office long enough. There was a special moment in 2015 when she met Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whom she’d met as a child decades prior, when his father was prime minister.
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