Queen Elizabeth, Britain\u2019s longest-reigning monarch and the nation\u2019s figurehead for seven decades, has died aged 96, Buckingham Palace said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,\u201d Buckingham Palace said in a statement. \u201cThe King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her eldest son Charles, 73, automatically becomes king of the United Kingdom and the head of state of 14 other realms including Australia, Canada and New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Her family had rushed to be by her side at her Scottish home, Balmoral Castle, after doctors expressed concern about her health. She had been suffering from what Buckingham Palace has called \u201cepisodic mobility problems\u201d since the end of last year, forcing her to withdraw from nearly all her public engagements.<\/p>\n
Queen Elizabeth II, who was also the world\u2019s oldest and longest-serving head of state, came to the throne following the death of her father King George VI on February 6, 1952.<\/p>\n
She was crowned in June the following year. The first televised coronation was a foretaste of a new world in which the lives of the royals were to become increasingly scrutinised by the media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Queen Elizabeth, Britain\u2019s longest-reigning monarch and the nation\u2019s figurehead for seven decades, has died aged 96, Buckingham Palace said on Thursday. \u201cThe Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,\u201d Buckingham Palace said in a statement. \u201cThe King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.\u201d Her eldest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282358,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[10572,5848,1104,10573],"class_list":{"0":"post-282349","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-britain-queen","9":"tag-dies","10":"tag-queen-elizabeth","11":"tag-scottish-home"},"yoast_head":"\n