Queen Elizabeth dead at 96

Queen Elizabeth II, Great Britain’s monarch across two millennia and a witness to tumultuous times for the world, her nation and the Royal Family, died Thursday.

She was 96 and held the longest reign of any ruler in British history with 70 years as queen.

“The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon,” Buckingham Palace said in a statement. “The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.”

Elizabeth ascended to the throne at age 25 after the sudden death of her father George VI in February 1952. Sixty-six years later, the queen attended the wedding of her grandson Prince Harry in May 2018. And earlier this year, the nation celebrated her unprecedented seven decades as monarch.

“My whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong,” Elizabeth promised her fellow Brits shortly before her 21st birthday.

The future queen made good on her vow, through royal weddings and royal scandals, through the deaths of her sister Margaret and Princess Diana. Members of the royal family were reported at her bedside before the death.

She celebrated her Golden Jubilee, marking 50 years as reigning monarch, in 2002 — and then her Diamond Jubilee for 60 years a decade later. In 2015, Elizabeth became the longest-serving ruler in her nation’s history. Her Diamond Jubilee, marking 70 years, was celebrated in June.

The record for longevity was “not one to which I have ever aspired,” she said on her 23,227th day as queen.

In her last years on the throne, Elizabeth was embroiled in family controversy as her son Prince Andrew was implicated in the massive sexual abuse scandal involving predatory businessman Jeffrey Epstein. The prince paid a reported $13.5 million settlement for the alleged rape of a 17-year-old girl procured by Epstein, who later committed suicide in prison.

In a stunning rebuke, she also stripped her son of his military and royal duties. There was also a family falling out with grandson Prince Harry and his American wife Meghan Markle, with the two stepping back two years ago from their roles in the royal family.

The duration of her unprecedented reign were illustrated by the accompanying numbers: She saw 14 American presidents come and go. She answered more than 3.5 million pieces of correspondence. And she owned more than 30 pet Welsh corgis.

Even her dogs achieved a level of fame: A corgi named Holly appeared in the James Bond sketch during the Opening Ceremonies of the London Olympics in 2012.

Elizabeth became the world’s longest-reigning monarch in October 2016 with the death of Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

The Queen lost her husband of more than seven decades, Prince Philip, in April 2021, and faced other family problems in recent years.

There were rumors about her failing health as 2016 drew to a close. Just after Christmas 2016, Buckingham Palace was forced to deny a Twitter hoax reporting the queen’s death as she battled a heavy cold and missed the annual Christmas Day service in Norfolk for the first time since 1988.

A prerecorded Christmas speech was delivered as planned, with Elizabeth hailing “ordinary people doing extraordinary things.”

The queen soon recovered and her reign continued into the next decade.

The future queen was born in London on April 21, 1926, the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York — later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The infant, christened Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, was third in line for the throne at birth. But the odds of her ascension were extremely long, and she was raised away from the spotlight that accompanies the assumption of advancement.

The family welcomed Elizabeth’s sister Margaret in 1930, and the siblings grew up in the tightly knit family of four.

The sisters were home-schooled in mathematics, history, French and the arts, with Elizabeth becoming known by the family nickname “Lilibet.”

But their lives changed dramatically with the 1936 death of her grandfather, King George V. The late king’s eldest son Edward famously abdicated his throne to marry American socialite Wallis Simpson, choosing his heart over the crown.

Simpson, as a divorcee, could not marry into the Royal Family. With Edward’s decision, Elizabeth’s father became King George VI in a 1937 Westminster Abbey coronation.

The gala event was attended by Margaret and older sister Elizabeth — who had instantly become the queen-in-waiting while just a child.

During World War II, the Royal Family was evacuated from Buckingham Palace before their home was targeted by Nazi bombers. The king and queen ignored suggestions of relocating their daughters to Canada, instead keeping the family intact during the London Blitz.

By war’s end, Elizabeth worked as a driver and mechanic with the Women’s Royal Auxiliary Territorial Service.

Elizabeth’s life changed forever when her father passed away after a 15-year reign, catapulting the 25-year-old into the throne while she was on a 1952 trip to Kenya.

She was five years into a marriage with the love of her life, Prince Philip of Greece, and the mother to 4-year-old son Charles — the royal now poised to follow her to the throne.

One night before her official installation as queen, word arrived from Nepal that Sir Edmund Hillary had reached the top of Mt. Everest.

“ALL THIS — AND EVEREST TOO!” read the coronation day headline on page one of the Daily Express. By the time her palace run ended, man had walked on the moon and landed a spacecraft on Mars.

The couple eventually welcomed four children, with Elizabeth raising the quartet in the same low-key style favored by her own mom. She became a permanent presence on the British scene, as undeniable and constant as Big Ben or Winchester Cathedral.

Through the ‘50s and the ‘60s, as Elvis Presley gave way to the Beatles, the Queen remained rock solid. But the times were changing and difficult years loomed ahead as the royals became victims of increasingly intense media attention and steadily decreasing adoration from the typical British citizen.

In May 1977, punk rockers the Sex Pistols released “God Save the Queen” — a scathing three-chord assault on Elizabeth.

“God save the Queen,” sneered singer Johnny Rotten. “She ain’t no human being.”

The Pistols soon imploded. The Queen’s reign continued. That same year, she celebrated her 30th wedding anniversary and 25th anniversary as Great Britain’s monarch.

Turmoil arrived in 1981, when a would-be “assassin” fired six shots from a gun loaded with blanks. It was a harbinger of hard times ahead in the next two decades.

When her son Charles Philip announced his February 1981 engagement to the young and vibrant Lady Diana Spencer, the nation and the world became enthralled with the couple.

The two were wed quickly, with heir-to-the-throne Prince William arriving the next year. Diana, barely 20, became a global icon revered for her style. Their marriage soured into a tabloid disaster that would tarnish Elizabeth’s public persona, with the queen perceived as distant and out of touch with her daughter-in-law.

The prince and the princess became embroiled in embarrassing public affairs as their union crashed and burned. The whole sordid mess was laid bare by Andrew Morton’s book “Diana: Her True Story.”

The self-destructing marriage turned 1992 “an annus horriblis” around Buckingham Palace, the queen confessed in her annual Christmas address.The prince and his princess finally divorced in Aug. 1996, their storybook romance left in ashes.

Elizabeth’s other son, Prince Andrew, fared little better in his doomed 1986 marriage to Sarah Ferguson — a pairing that collapsed after a decade.

His service as a British Royal Navy helicopter pilot in the 1982 Falklands War offered another bit of angst for the queens — and more lurked ahead.

When Diana died in an August 1997 Paris car crash, the queen’s refusal to fly the Union Jack at half-mast led to outrage across the nation.

But the queen was nothing if not resilient, and she once again bounced back into the hearts of her constituents. For her 50th anniversary in 2002, the lineup of musical talent honoring Elizabeth included rock royalty: Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Brian Wilson.

But 2002 was a sad year, too. Princess Margaret, the queens’ lone sibling who was often derided as the Royal Family’s black sheep, passed away in February.

The next month, her 101-year-old mother died as well.

Elizabeth last visited New York in 2011, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and white gloves to lay a wreath at Ground Zero.

One year later, in one of the best and busiest 12 months of her reign, she attended the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Great Britain then united for her 60th anniversary as queen, and watched as she took part in the Opening Ceremonies of the London Olympics.

And when she became the longest-reigning monarch in the history of her homeland in 2015, the self-deprecating Elizabeth addressed her supporters at home and abroad.

“Inevitably a long life can pass by many milestones,” she said in a brief address. “My own is no exception. But I thank you all and the many others at home and overseas for your touching messages of great kindness.”