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LAST UPDATE | 8 Sep 2022
MEMBERS OF BRITAIN’S royal family travelled to Queen Elizabeth II’s residence today in Balmoral, Scotland, after it was confirmed that the monarch was being kept “under medical supervision”.
It has since been announced that the 96-year-old died this afternoon.
The initial statement – an unusual one – came from Buckingham Palace this morning. It said:
“Following further evaluation this morning, the Queen’s doctors are concerned for Her Majesty’s health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision. The Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral.”
A Royal Air Force plane carrying three of the queen’s four children – Charles, Edward and Andrew – along with her grandson William and other members of the Windsor family arrived at Aberdeen Airport just before 4pm.
William drove his two uncles into Balmoral as part of a cavalcade of cars at the Queen’s Scottish Highlands home just after 5pm.
The queen’s grandson Harry was said to be travelling alone without his wife Meghan Markle, who is understood to be remaining in London. William’s wife Catherine is also remaining in the UK capital to take care of their children.
There were no plans for UK Prime Minister Liz Truss to travel to Scotland today or tomorrow, Downing Street said earlier today, though that may yet change.
Visits
Heir to the throne Charles was said to have been making regular morning visits to see his mother later in the summer as she continued to struggle with her mobility, with the unplanned visits considered highly unusual.
During her Platinum Jubilee celebrations in May the late queen only travelled to Buckingham Palace twice and she had caught Covid-19 in February.
Last year, she missed the Remembrance Sunday Cenotaph service and Cop26 climate change talks.
On Tuesday, the queen appointed Liz Truss as UK Prime Minister. For the first time during her 70-year reign, that duty did not take place in Buckingham Palace as she had remained in Scotland due to concerns for her health.
The following day, the queen pulled out of a virtual meeting of the Privy Council.
Truss said earlier this afternoon after news broke that the UK was “deeply concerned” for the monarch.
“The whole country will be deeply concerned by the news from Buckingham Palace this lunchtime. My thoughts – and the thoughts of people across our United Kingdom – are with Her Majesty The Queen and her family at this time,” she tweeted.
The first ministers of Scotland and Wales, Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford, also tweeted their concern for the monarch’s condition.
US President Joe Biden told Truss he was “keeping the Queen and her family in their thoughts”, the White House said.
The initial public indication of the developments leading up to the Queen’s death took place earlier today during a House of Commons sitting when Commons Leader Nadhim Zahaw entered the chamber, sat down next to Truss and began urgently speaking to her.
Labour leader Keir Starmer was also passed a note by his deputy Angela Rayner.
Religious reaction
The Archbishop of Canterbury, who is the head of the principal leader of the Church of England, has said the “prayers of the nation” were with the queen.
Archbishop John McDowell, the Church of Ireland’s Primate of All Ireland said in a statement:
“The Archbishop of Armagh and the people of the Church of Ireland, conscious of concerns around the health of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, would offer their prayers and urge others to pray at this very difficult time.”
- With reporting by Press Association
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As much as I dislike the monarchy and the British regime especially. She is an elderly lady born into a legacy. She is a mother, grand mother, aunt, etc to so many people. God speed in the recovery old lady. She has lived so many traumas, joys, health issues, family problems and a torrent of life experiences. Last thing I would wish is ill health on the elderly. Recover well.
@Rafa Condron: Beautifully said x
@Rafa Condron:
like us all, but our lives are not played out in the public eye
@Rafa Condron: Yeah, but she’s 96. We don’t last forever either.
@Rafa Condron: Well said.
If she is on the way out, I wish her a peaceful passing surrounded by the love of her family. That’s all any of us would want.
Hope she feels better soon.
@frank griffin: “who cares rich people never earned a penny of there wealth”
She’s a bird in a gilded cage.
Plus, have you seen her schedule over the years?
I bet she puts in far more hours then you do.
@frank griffin: Very uneducated thing to say
@frank griffin: Nasty comments , hope you’re proud of yourself
@frank griffin: … THEIR wealth
@frank griffin: Go back to school, you seem to have a problem with “there” and “their.
@Cathal Byrnes: She will feel absolutely fine and pain free later today by the looks of it…….a fantastic innings in fairness to her
@Will: it’s not really the fact. These figures are for the US, but still bears mentioning;
Only 21% of millionaires received any inheritance at all. Just 16% inherited more than $100,000. And: Only 3% received an inheritance at or above $1 million!
Source: https://www.ramseysolutions.com/retirement/how-many-millionaires-actually-inherited-their-wealth
It must have been meeting Johnson and Truss that tipped her over the edge (seriously, not trying to be irreverent or disrespectful)
@Lesidees: i think meeting either of those two would be enough!
@frank griffin: she has a thriving stud farm that is her own business and separate from the public purse. So to say she never earned a penny of her wealth is simply untrue. She also worked as a mechanic during the war. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/what-the-royal-family-did-during-the-second-world-war#:~:text=A%20ROYAL%20VISIT,-The%20King%20and&text=At%20the%20age%20of%2019,was%20the%20equivalent%20of%20Captain.
@Rmaybe: dream on u silly person
@Rmaybe: I thought she was practicing her salutes.
@frank griffin: Are you disputing the facts. You are a creature of a human bet you have never done a day’s hard work, how have I been paying your dole?
@Fi Wyse: am self employed for past 52 years never ever claimed dole but thanks for asking
@Fi Wyse: am self employed for past 52 years never ever claimed dole but thanks for asking
@frank griffin: 1. being bitter doesn’t make you right.
2. Saying “who cares” about a dying 96 year old woman just makes you look like a d**k.
If you actually didn’t care you would scroll on, you didnt which validates that you are in fact just bitter. Very sad existence.
@Rmaybe: she is worth around $500 million – how much of that came from her mechanic wages do you reckon? She probably posed as a mechanic to say I’m just like all you little commoners helping out with the war effort. That would be about the height of it.
@Sean: Queen Elizabeth did actually work as a mechanic during WW2, that’s a fact. No ‘posing’. I’m not a fan of the monarchy but I wish her well all the same.
@Sean: I never said anything about where her money comes from. A large amount comes from inheritance, a large amount from the sovereign grant and another huge chunk from the privy and her horse business also turns over a tidy sum too. My point was that she has infact worked even up until two days ago when the new prime minister was appointed she was still working as per her obligation as Queen which she is paid handsomely for. It’s well documented that she is a trained mechanic. You don’t have to like her or the monarchy but they are the facts. Making them up to justify your bitterness just makes you look well bitter.
In 1603, two dynasties fell.
Elizabeth I died childless: the Tudors lost the
Crown. And Hugh O’Neill surrendered to the
English: over a thousand years of Gaelic
monarchy ended.
O’Neill died in despair in 1616. But history
had not abandoned him.
He left a daughter, Sorcha O’Neill, who
married an Irish aristocrat, a Magennis of
Iveagh. Ten generations later, one of her
descendants became Lady Glamis. In 1900, she
had a daughter-
-Elizabeth Bowes Lyon.
Elizabeth was the mother of Elizabeth
Windsor. In 1952, she became the Queen of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Elizabeth I1 embodied a dynasty which
Elizabeth I had been at pains to destroy.
DOUGLAS CARSON, 17 JUNE 2011
@Niall O’Reilly: Perfect for when Tubridy asks “Have ya any Irish in ya?”
@Niall O’Reilly: I once heard she was descended from Brian Boru. There won’t be a cow milked between Tulla & Killaloe for the week.
@Gandelow: I am sure there are plenty of Viking genes in all of us nevertheless!
All politics aside, I never disliked the Queen, perhaps one of the only truly nice members of the Royal family.. never easy to go on forever like that when you’re 96. I wish her well
Couldn’t care less
@Joe Lynch: always one, but cares enough to tell us all,that they couldn’t care less.
@Joe Lynch: you cared enough to comment about it.
@Joe Lynch: but you are still here commenting.
@Joe Lynch: how edgy and cool are you ???
@Joe Lynch: but you made a remark…so you do one way or the other, care.
An old woman may die soon. She is no more important than any other 96yo. I wish her and all other senior people a long and happy life.
@A Well Known Comical Stereotype AKA PRGuy: that’s not exactly true now is it, despite your personal thoughts on the matter. She is a rather important figure, exhibit A – everyone is discussing it online, among many other exhibits.
@A Well Known Comical Stereotype AKA PRGuy: bitter much?
nice to read the positive comments, i wish her well to
THE glories of our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things;
There is no armour against fate;
Death lays his icy hand on kings:
Sceptre and crown
Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade
Rumor has it she took a tumble,my guess when loading the dishwasher
@Karl Pinker: sure she didn’t trip over Pinocchio Boris or Liz’s noses….?
@Karl Pinker: not the dryer no?
@Karl Pinker: Charles putting roller skates on the stairs
FG will want a day of national mourning
@Chris OB: Why?
@Chris OB: if it means we all get the day off….
And the last two people she will have met officially….Johnson and Truss. What a bookend to her life as monarch.
@alan: have to agree with you..Im sure compared with Churchill, Thatcher, Major etc, you are right.
How do i ask my boss of I get a day off if she does without seeming insensitive? It better not be tomorrow, I’ve a half day
She is already passed away, will be announced later today
@Aimee Kavanagh: you know this how?
@Mary Conneely: she doesn’t only guessing, and she’s only guessing that she will die today because of the urgency around the situation.
@Mary Conneely:ost likely an educated guess seeing as the BBC changed their header to black and all the presenters are now in black as well as regular scheduling being cancelled. Looks like the start of “London Bridge has fallen” or whatever the protocol is officially called.
@Karen Ní Dhochartaigh: header stillnlooks red to me
I bet the guys who edit Reeling in the years are crapping themselves about how to cram so much into three episodes
@Sequoia: each year going to be a 12 part special. One part for each month.
@Mar Bourne: don’t start! I live in London, the BBC are going to be unbearable
@Shane Hickey: unfortunately I’ve chosen that weekend to visit relatives but she gained a lot of admirers when she visited Ireland some years back.
@Shane Hickey: Unfortunatley as a BBC fan, in this case I have to agree with you.
Not a fan of the royals but what a long life with so many changes, disasters, celebrations, births, deaths etc. She is definitely a strong character but you could see the fight waning in her after the death of her husband.
I’m pleased to see that so many people have positive things to say about her. At times like this we can all leave our past differences aside and recognize she is a person with a family and they will be going through a period of extreme grief like any one of us would. As a person she delivered for the UK, anyone who’s ever visited the UK and in particular London will see just how much value she adds to the UK economy, tourist flock to see Buckingham palace, the Crown Jewels etc. she’s is probably the most well known woman on the planet and no matter where you are today and she who you are with you will probably remember this day
@Richard Costello: well said.
Ding dong
Great woman for her age.
Old woman is sick . Why is this news
@David Carolan: Because not every old woman is a queen.
@Jason Ebbs: She is not our queen. So she is just a sick old woman
@David Carolan: One of the reason why I think, only people who pay/donate to The Journal should be allowed to post.
At least you would need to pay for your completely meaningless post and lack of understanding of “World News”.
Not a fan of the Queen or the UK in general, but YES, this is news.
@David Carolan: you can tune into you local radio station if you are only interested in local news.
@David Carolan: bitter much?
@Wolfgang Bonow: their is bigger world news then that
@David Carolan: Yes, I agree, but it is still news and nobody is forcing you to read the article. It’s still news for lot of other people, also with some potential political impact – it’s not an article about the Kardashian’s or Garth Brooks :-)
@David Carolan: so why you reading it and commenting.
@Paul Furey: bitter ? Why because I’m not an dying old woman
@malcolm smith: I can have an opinion like it or not
@Wolfgang Bonow: I don’t like either of them two I wonder if you would have as strong an opinion on kids living on the streets in Dublin not having food to eat but an old woman from a different country dying is big news
Quexit
If she does pass away, please let Charles become king.
@Dave Barrett: He will. It is/was her wish. And Camilla will be Queen Consort.
If and when she passes they’ll clear the homeless and poor from route of her funeral cortege, while spending megabucks on pomp and ceremony. All countries should be true republics. Liberty, egality, fraternity.
@Míchael Búrké: Would you believe that of the 10 poorest countries in the world 8 are Republics.
@John Brennan: They were also mostly invaded, stripped of their resources, culture, language and dignity, by the british empire.
People have really no idea who would these Blue Bloods really are.
@Dermot Purcell: People have really no idea what you are saying.
@Dermot Purcell: ? K? and any other symbol that might mean whats your point.
Some of the behaviour of TheJournal.ie’s reporters on Twitter regarding this news story is plainly disgusting.
They delete tasteless comments on here but let their own reporters run amok elsewhere.
Just like being born sometimes it takes the same time to die..
God save the queen…we mean it man…we love our queen…God Save!
@Damien Leen: no future, no future, no future for her.
Andrew broke her heart
Mar sin, cé acu mac peidfile atá sa chéad líne eile?
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