Updated September 10, 2022 at 2035 hrs
The British Monarch of 70 years, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Second passed away yesterday, Thursday, September 8, 2022, at her Scotland residence, the Balmoral Castle.
As could be expected, and rightly so, the daily papers have devoted their pages to content recounting the life of the late Queen Elizabeth, and reactions from persons of all walks of life. As well as messages of condolences from world leaders.
As the the United Kingdom, the realms and the Commonwealth of Nations enter a period of ten (10) days of official mourning. The mortal remains of the late Monarch will lie-in-state in Westminster Hall for four days. The State Funeral of Her Majesty The Queen will take place on Monday, September 19, 2022, at 1100 hrs (BST) at the Westminster Abbey.
Her eldest son, formerly, Prince Charles (73) in a few months times will be coronated as King Charles III.
The papers provide a tangible record of a monarch much loved and revered, not only in the British Isles but around the world.
HM Queen Elizabeth ranks as the longest serving British monarch serving 70 years, 214 days: 6 February 1952 to 8 September 2022 , surpassing Queen Victoria who served from 20 June 1837 to 22 January 1901, 63 years, 216 days.
The world and the British Empire have gone through not only great technological change, but a growing acceptance of the necessity for change in a modern world.
The Late Monarch, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, introduced The Commonwealth, an invention of the 20th-century, comprising of former colonies of the British Empire, which is a notable model of adaptation of The Crown to meet modern demands.
Rather than an increase of the Colonial land stock that categorised the actions of her forebears, the Imperial Empire, under her watch has been markedly reduced.
In light of the fight for equality and liberation, this is significant, and in the centuries ahead, when the story of Empire will be analysed in the cold, light of hindsight, the reign of Elizabeth II will loom large over the story of the diminishing British Empire accelerated during her incredible reign.
ALBERT WILLIAMS Reporting 