Queen Elizabeth dies at the age of 96, bringing an end to an era in British history.

Queen Elizabeth, who ruled the UK for the longest time and served as a symbol for seven decades, passed away on Thursday at the age of 96 at her residence in Edinburgh. The Queen of Scotland died peacefully this afternoon at Balmoral, according to a statement from Buckingham Palace.

The King and Queen consort will spend this evening and tomorrow at Balmoral before returning to London. Elizabeth’s eldest son, 73, automatically ascends to the throne of the UK and 14 other nations, including Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Camilla, his wife, becomes queen consort.

The Queen’s family was eager to be by her side at her Scottish residence, Balmoral, upon learning that her health was deteriorating shortly after lunchtime on Thursday, when her doctors confirmed she was under medical supervision. Since late last year, the Queen has been going through what Buckingham Palace has referred to as “episodic mobility issues,” which has forced her to cancel nearly all of her public appearances.

It was not until Tuesday that he made his final public appearance when he named Liz Truss as his 15th prime minister. The flags of all government buildings and buildings in London were waved at half-mast. On the death of her father, King George VI, on February 6, 1952, Queen Elizabeth II, the world’s oldest and youngest head of state, ascended to the throne when she was 25.

The following June, she was crowned. The first televised coronation served as a preview of a new era in which media scrutiny of royalty’s personal lives would increase. In an address to his subjects on the day of his coronation, she said, “All my life and with all my heart, I will strive to be worthy of your trust.”

She was recovering from the effects of World War II, but dietary restrictions and the dominance of class and privilege remained. At the time, the Korean War was raging, Josef Stalin was the head of the Soviet Union, and Winston Churchill was the Prime Minister of Great Britain. Elizabeth experienced significant social upheaval and political transformation both domestically and internationally over the following decades.

His own family’s struggles unfolded in full view of the world, particularly Charles and the divorce from his late first wife, Diana. Elizabeth worked to modernize the historic institution of the monarchy while continuing to serve as a firm representation of stability and continuity for the British in a period of relative national economic collapse. In a 2012 documentary, her grandson, now heir to the throne, Prince William, said, “She has managed to modernize and adapt the monarchy like no other.”

Elizabeth was the 40th queen in a series of kings that dates back to William the Conqueror, a Norman who conquered England in 1066 and took the crown after defeating Anglo-Saxon king Harold II at the Battle of Hastings.

She often broke records for British monarchs due to her long reign. She said surpassing her great-grandmother, Queen Victoria’s 63-plus, was not a goal she had ever set for herself. They had four children together: Charles, Anne, Andrew, and Edward, during their 73-year marriage to Prince Philip, which lasted until his death in April 2021. Critics claimed she came across as distant and aloof since she never granted interviews to the media.

However, she was a figure who commanded respect and affection from the great majority of her subjects, for whom she was the only queen they had ever known. She was knowledgeable and selfless in her civic obligations, and she had a tremendous generosity of spirit. He drove and lived like that, “said John Major, a former prime minister.

She “embodied the heart and spirit of our country” for millions in the Commonwealth and the rest of the world, and was loved and revered everywhere. According to opinion surveys, Charles does not have close to the same amount of popularity as Elizabeth, and it has been speculated that the death of Elizabeth may lead to an increase in republican feelings, particularly in other spheres. At the time of her death, the queen was also the head of state for Australia, the Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Antigua and Barbuda, in addition to the United

The Monarch appeared to be becoming more conscious of the monarchy’s contemporary function when she permitted, for example, the legal separation of her sister’s marriage in 1978 and the televising of the royal family’s private lives in 1970. But the royal family had a lot of difficulties in the 1990s.

Prince Charles and his wife, Diana, divorced. Queen Elizabeth referred to 1992 as the royal family’s “annus horribilis.” In addition, Anne became divorced, and Windsor Castle, the royal palace, was destroyed by fire. Furthermore, as the country struggled through a recession, discontent with the royal family’s lifestyle grew, and in 1992, Elizabeth agreed to pay taxes on her private income while remaining personally exempt.

Support for the royal family, which some people saw as outmoded and uncaring, was further weakened by Charles and Diana’s separation and subsequent divorce (in 1996). After Diana’s passing in 1997, the criticism increased, especially after Elizabeth at first refused to permit the national flag to fly at half-staff above Buckingham Palace.

The Queen then wanted to project a less stuffy and conventional image of the monarchy, in keeping with her past initiatives to modernize the monarchy. Elizabeth marked her 50th year as monarch in 2002. Events were staged in celebration of her “Golden Jubilee” around the Commonwealth, including three days of festivities in London.

The royal family’s reputation began to improve at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, and Prince Charles’ 2005 marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles was well received by the British public. Elizabeth presided over the family’s celebration of the nuptials of Prince William of Wales, Charles and Diana’s eldest son, and Catherine Middleton, in April 2011.

Elizabeth made a historic journey to Ireland in May, becoming the first British monarch since 1911 to set foot in Ireland and the first queen to visit the Irish republic. Elizabeth’s “Diamond Jubilee,” which marked 60 years of the monarchy, was commemorated in 2012. She surpassed Victoria’s record reign of 63 years and 216 days on September 9, 2015.

Prince Philip formally withdrew from public life in August 2017, but she continued to make appearances at official events on occasion. Elizabeth started to scale back her official engagements in this period, delegating some responsibilities to Prince Charles and other senior royals. However, the pool of stand-ins shrank when Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, and his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, controversially decided to renounce their royal roles in March 2020.

The Crown, a Netflix television series about the Windsors that debuted in 2016, was extremely popular at the time, which increased people’s interest in the queen and the royal family. Philip, who had been Elizabeth’s spouse for more than seven decades, passed away in April 2021 after suffering from several health setbacks in previous years.

The COVID-19 pandemic-induced social-distancing regulations caused the queen to sit alone in a pew during Philip’s burial in St. George’s Chapel (at Windsor Castle). The terrible photos of her tragic solitude that were widely circulated serve as a poignant reminder of the strength and dignity she brought to her reign.

On Queen Elizabeth’s death, who inherits her private wealth?

King Charles succeeds his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on the throne as well as her fortune without having to pay inheritance tax.  Rich List 2022 believes that the queen was worth about £370 million ($426 million), up $5 million from the previous year, even though it is not typical for British monarchs to reveal their fortune.

The majority of the late sovereign’s riches will go to Charles, and the British government won’t get any compensation. Among the major royal treasures of the monarchy are the Crown Estate grounds, the Royal Collection of art and jewels, governmental structures, and the Royal Archives. Charles won’t get them until trust has been established.

The Crown Jewels, believed to be valued at at least £3 billion, are similar in that they only belong to the queen symbolically and are immediately handed to her replacement. Charles’ fortune, which according to celebritynetworth.com is believed to be worth about $100 million, will be augmented by the riches of the queen.

A court ordered in 2021 that Prince Philip’s tomb would remain sealed for 90 years. Elizabeth’s late husband, Prince Philip, left a relatively modest bequest of £10 million that comprised a collection of over 3,000 works of art, most of which were gifted to family and friends.

Since the Middle Ages, kings have owned the Duchy of Lancaster, a private estate containing commercial, agricultural, and residential interests, which Charles inherits as king. The monarch has the authority to use the funds and usually does so to pay for government costs. During the fiscal years 2021–2022, it recorded a net surplus of $24.0 million.

Charles will, however, forfeit the Duchy of Cornwall, another exclusive domain in southwest England. In 2021–2022, it had a revenue surplus of almost £23 million. Prince William, the eldest son of Charles and the current successor to the throne, will get the duchy, which was established in 1337 by Edward III for his son and heir, Prince Edward.

Additionally, Charles will be given the yearly Sovereign Grant from the UK Treasury, which is equal to 15% of the Crown Estate’s earnings and which the monarch surrenders to the government following a 1760 agreement. The Sovereign Grant pays for the expenses associated with the monarch’s and other senior members of the royal family’s official activities, as well as the salaries of their employees and maintenance of the royal residences.

For 2021–2022, it was planned at £86.3 million ($1.29 per person in the UK), which included funds for the renovation of Buckingham Palace. The Crown Estate’s portfolio includes well-known properties in London’s financial district; other office and retail buildings; rural and coastal land around the country; and waterways off England and Wales. It presently ranks among the biggest real estate companies in Europe and has made large financial commitments to sectors like offshore wind energy development.

It reported a net revenue profit of £312.7 million in the fiscal year ending in March 2022, up from £269.3 million in 2020–21. On estates worth more than £325,000, Britain levies a 40% inheritance tax. However, thanks to regulations created in 1993, the next king won’t have to pay inheritance tax on the personal fortune he would get from his mother.

Assets that have been passed from one royal to the next, or from a sovereign’s consort, are exempt. The rules were developed to guard against the loss of the royal family’s private wealth in the event of numerous monarchs dying unexpectedly, and their estates were each reduced by 40%. Following the rules, which were laid out in a government memorandum of understanding from 2013, the monarch is also guaranteed to have personal money and be financially independent of the state.