Buckingham Palace: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II dies at 96

Queen Elizabeth, Britain's longest-reigning monarch, has died aged 96, Buckingham Palace says.

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.

The royal family had rushed to Scotland’s Balmoral on Thursday after doctors said the monarch was not feeling well and should stay “under medical supervision”.

In spite of Buckingham Palace’s prior statement, announcing that “the Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral,” she passed away.

According to the Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II was suffering from “episodic mobility problems” since the end of last year. 

The development came after the queen appointed Liz Truss as the new British prime minister on the previous day.

Elizabeth was the queen of Britain and more than a dozen other countries, who saw 15 British prime ministers in her record-breaking reign and earlier this year marked her 70th year on the throne. 

At her death, she was head of state of: Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and the UK.

At the peak, she was queen of 18 countries at the same time, between 1983 and 1987. Since then, Fiji (1987), Mauritius (1992) and Barbados (2021) have become republics.

Her last years as the monarch were marked by a slew of scandals dogging the royal family. 

SS