Elizabeth II 1926-2022 | A reign of more than seven decades comes to an end

She was not destined to ascend the throne. She ultimately stayed there longer than any other British monarch, even surpassing her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria. Queen Elizabeth breathed her last on Thursday, after 70 years and a half of reign. His 73-year-old son Charles becomes king.

Louise Leduc
The Press

Warned early in the day that the end was approaching, her four children and her grandson William traveled to Scotland. Prince Harry, youngest son of Charles, arrived in the evening, without his wife Meghan.

Citing the concern of his doctors, the statement from Buckingham Palace, released Thursday at 12:32 p.m. local time, left no doubt. The queen was going to die.

The announcement fell at 6.30pm (London time) and was made by the Royal Family both through a message on the Buckingham Palace gates and on Twitter. “The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The King and Queen Consort will stay at Balmoral tonight and return to London tomorrow. »

In the crowd that had gathered in the afternoon, tears begin to flow, then silence settles before the national anthem God Save the Queen does not resonate.

“Oh no! “, we hear in the crowd when the announcement of the death of the queen falls.

In an official message released a few hours later, Charles, the new king, said the death of his “beloved” mother is a moment of great sadness for him and all his family members. “During this time of grief and change, the respect and deep affection shown to the Queen will be a source of consolation and comfort for us. »

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Flags across the country were immediately lowered. As soon as news of his impending death was announced, the BBC halted its regular programming and the changing of the guard outside Buckingham Palace – where the English are increasingly flocking – was cancelled.

Outside her Downing Street residence, Prime Minister Liz Truss underlined the Queen’s dignity and devotion. “She was the spirit of Britain,” she said, stressing how “loved and admired” she was in the UK and around the world.

Commenting on the news in the middle of the afternoon, Justin Trudeau said how sad he was at the thought that he would not see her again. He said she had “advised and helped” him over the years. “She was interested, interesting, curious, funny, engaged. »

For his part, US President Joe Biden hailed Elizabeth II on Thursday as “a stateswoman of incomparable dignity and constancy”.

Repeated absences, growing fragility

The repeated absences of the queen in recent months at official ceremonies had made the British and the whole world aware of the fragility of the sovereign. For the first time in 70 years of reign, Elizabeth II did not properly receive her new prime minister at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday. It is rather Liz Truss who traveled 800 kilometers from London to Scotland to meet for the first time Queen Elizabeth II, now limited in her movements.

Her death still caused a shock as on Tuesday she was photographed standing, smiling and rather dapper alongside her 15^e Prime Minister.

It was in parliament, around noon, by a note slipped by one of her ministers seated at her side that the Prime Minister learned that the Queen was living her last hours. She immediately left the House of Commons, followed by Opposition Leader Keir Starmer

Charles already king, Camilla, queen consort

In accordance with the rules of the British monarchy, “a new sovereign ascends the throne as soon as his predecessor dies”. Charles thus became king the very moment his mother passed away, even if the ceremony of her coronation will probably take place only in a few months.

Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor, former Prince of Wales, will become King Charles III, his services confirmed in the evening. Normally, the official proclamation of the succession is made the day after the death, therefore Friday. The new king will speak there and swear loyalty to the government and the Anglican Church of England.

“Today the Crown passes, as it has for over 1,000 years, to our new monarch, our new Head of State, His Majesty King Charles III,” Prime Minister Liz Truss said in the evening. .

In accordance with the queen’s wish in February, Camilla, Charles’s second wife and ex-mistress, becomes queen consort. Her discretion and her involvement in many charities have allowed her over the years to integrate the royal family when she has long been the subject of the worst criticism, just like her husband.

Loyalty to his people in life and death

Having become heiress to the crown on the abdication of her uncle Edward VIII, Elizabeth promised at the age of 21 loyalty to her people in life and death.

“I declare before you that my whole life, whether long or short, will be devoted to serving you,” she declared on April 21, 1947.

Queen at 25

Four years after her marriage to Prince Philip, she was in Kenya when she learned of the death of her father, George VI, from lung problems. She is only 25 years old.

Driven by a deep sense of duty, doing nothing to become a “queen of hearts” like her late daughter-in-law Diana, but sparing nothing to preserve the monarchy, Elizabeth II will become, thanks to her longevity, if not a mythical figure, at least a historical figure.

Smooth and elusive, she advised 15 prime ministers. She has traveled through time, successively witnessing the reconstruction of her country after the Second World War, decolonization, the war in Ireland, the entry of the United Kingdom into the European Union, then its exit.

On a personal level, if the series The Crown claimed that Philip had an affair with a ballerina, officially, the marriage of Elizabeth and Prince Philip will be uneventful and will last 74 years, making it one of the longest marriages among crowned heads.

The married life of his children will be otherwise tormented. The year 1992, described by Elisabeth asannus horribilis, will be marked by the fire of Windsor Castle, very dear to his heart, and the divorce of three of his four children, Charles, Anne and Andrew. Only her younger brother, Edward, never divorced.

The very public marital rout of Prince Charles, heir to the throne, then the death of Diana will grate the British monarchy and particularly Elizabeth, whose delayed reaction to the tragic end of her ex-daughter-in-law will be interpreted as coldness.

The tide will eventually turn. Prince Charles will marry against all odds his lifelong mistress, Camilla Parker Bowles. Better, the union will end up being sufficiently accepted so that the conjectures that Charles will pass his turn for the benefit of William and his wife Kate, on a faultless course, cease.

Not without difficulty, the queen will regain the affection of her subjects enough for her legitimacy to cease to be one of the subjects of the hour.

In May 2011, Queen Elizabeth will deliver a historic speech of reconciliation in Ireland, a speech which will be hailed in particular by Gerry Adams, who campaigned part of his life for the end of British authority over Northern Ireland.

“We can never forget those who died or were injured, and their families,” she said. To all who have suffered because of our troubled past, I send my sincere feelings and deep compassion. Looking back, we can see what we would have liked to have done differently or not at all. »

A painful last straight line

On April 9, 2021, Prince Philip died at the age of 99. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the unthinkable happened: his funeral was held in the strictest privacy. The Queen attends the funeral under a mask, at St. George’s Chapel in Windsor. Due to the strict sanitary conditions and her fragility linked to her old age, Queen Elizabeth will be seen alone on her bench, facing the prince’s coffin.

Her family did not allow Elisabeth to live the home stretch of her life peacefully. Matriarch of a family of four children, eight grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, she will witness the defeat of several of them until the end.

The links of his son Andrew with the American financier Jeffrey Epstein, mastermind of trafficking in minors, earned him a time in the crosshairs of American investigators. After a disastrous interview on television, Prince Andrew must retire from public life.

The marriage of his grandson Harry to American Meghan Markle also caused a stir when the couple decided to move to the United States and step back from the royal family, without officially giving up the associated privileges. to their titles of Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The queen will not react in any way to the accusations of racism launched by Meghan and Harry during an interview granted to Oprah Winfrey.

In the same vein, the series The Crown, on Netflix, spared no member of the British royal family. Elizabeth’s sense of duty was certainly praised there, but also her coldness, especially towards her children.

Several voices were raised in England to demand that Netflix clearly say that it was a fiction, especially since many historical details were obviously false in the fourth season.

Elisabeth did not comment on the series herself, sticking to her creed Never explain, never complain. Because of this rule of life, she will have shown very little of her feelings, so that the states of mind and opinions attributed to her have remained for the most part pure speculation.

In October 2021, Elisabeth’s hospitalization for one night will be a source of concern. Her doctors will immediately recommend her rest, whereas she had spent the previous months multiplying public outings.

At her jubilee marking the 70 years of her reign, in June 2022, she will only make rare appearances. She will still manage to appear on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in front of Londoners, alongside her family.

This will have been his ultimate salvation to his people.

With Agence France-Presse