Queen Elizabeth II died in Balmoral, Scotland, on Thursday. She lived to be 96 and reigned supreme for 70 years – longer than any other monarch in British history. Buckingham Palace officials posted the official announcement of the Queen’s death on the palace gate in the evening.
Hundreds of people had gathered in front of the Queen’s official residence in London before the announcement after Buckingham Palace announced late in the morning that doctors were “concerned about the monarch’s health”. Many of those gathered sang the national anthem and burst into tears as the flag was lowered to half-staff.
The new British king is Charles III. The palace in London officially confirmed this on Thursday after British Prime Minister Liz Truss had called it that. King Charles III was devastated by the death of his mother. “We are in deep mourning for a cherished sovereign and a well-loved mother,” he said. “I know that their loss affects the whole country badly.” That also applies to the areas of their rule and the Commonwealth – and to people all over the world. The king plans to return to London with his wife, Queen Camilla, on Friday.
Truss: God save the king
Truss, who was commissioned to form a new government by Elizabeth II on Tuesday, paid tribute to the late Queen and said: “We are ushering in a new era in the glorious history of our great country, just as Her Majesty would have wished , saying the words, God save the King.
The Queen was the rock “on which modern Britain was built,” Truss said. Great Britain “grew and flourished under her rule”, she gave the British “through thick and thin the stability and strength we needed”.
The former Crown Prince Charles (here in May 2022) is now King Charles III.
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Image: AFP
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier condoled to the British royal family. Elizabeth II was “a woman who shaped a century, in the UK and beyond.” She experienced contemporary history and wrote contemporary history,” he wrote to the royal family. “Her Majesty was held in the highest esteem and respect throughout the world. Here in Germany, she was admired and revered.”
The death of the queen was “a deep turning point, the end of an epoch,” wrote the German head of state. “As Russia’s terrible war of aggression in Ukraine relentlessly showed us, peace and freedom in Europe cannot be taken for granted.” However, Elizabeth II also experienced “that war in Europe can be overcome. And she herself helped to heal the wounds of war,” says Steinmeier. The Queen’s state visit to Germany in 1965 was one of the most important symbols of the British-German friendship that developed after the war.
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz praised Elisabeth II as a “role model and inspiration for millions, also here in Germany”. Like Steinmeier, Scholz also emphasized the Queen’s commitment “to German-British reconciliation after the horrors of the Second World War”. This one will not be forgotten. “She will be missed, not least her wonderful sense of humor,” wrote Scholz. The Bundestag interrupted its debate on Thursday evening to pay tribute to the late British Queen in a minute’s silence.