Queen Elizabeth has died at the age of 96

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, whose reign spanned seven decades, has died today at the age of 96. The Royal Family confirmed the news this afternoon, saying she “died peacefully” at her home in Balmoral, Scotland.

The news of her death came just hours after Buckingham Palace shared that the queen’s doctors were “concerned” about her health and were keeping her under “medical supervision” at Balmoral Castle, where she has been in residence throughout the summer.

All major members of the British royal family, including Prince Charles and Prince William, were gathered to be by the Queen’s side today.

Earlier this summer, in June, Britain celebrated the queen’s Platinum Jubilee to mark her 70 years on the throne. Elizabeth succeeded her father, George VI, upon his death in 1952, when she was just 25 years old. Prince Charles will succeed his mother as King of England, and his wife, Camilla, will now be known as “queen consort.”

On Tuesday of this week, the queen fulfilled her final official engagement by swearing in the new prime minister, Liz Truss—the 15th prime minister Queen Elizabeth has worked with during her reign.

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Prince Philip, the queen’s husband of 73 years, died in April 2021. He and the queen shared four children: Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward. She is also grandmother to eight members of the royal family, and great-grandmother to 12.

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The Commonwealth of Nations, former territories of the British Empire, currently has 54 member countries, though just 14 nations continue to recognize the British monarch as their ceremonial head of state: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Tuvalu, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, Jamaica, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia, the Solomon Islands, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Throughout Queen Elizabeth’s reign, multiple nations have expressed their desire to leave the Commonwealth and the colonization of the British Empire in the past.

It has been reported that Prince Charles will be known as King Charles III, but will not receive an official coronation quite yet. The transfer of power making Charles king occurred the moment the queen died, according to University College London’s Constitution Unit. He will be the oldest British royal in history to take the throne at 73 years old.

King Charles released a statement following his mother’s death:

“The death of my beloved Mother, Her Majesty The Queen, is a moment of the greatest sadness for me and all members of my family. We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved Mother. I know her loss will be deeply felt throughout the country, the Realms and the Commonwealth, and by countless people around the world. During this period of mourning and change, my family and I will be comforted and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection in which The Queen was so widely held.”

Official funeral plans have not been announced, but a funeral will likely not take place before a “national period of mourning” for 10 days. The service will likely be held at Westminster Abbey.