Death of Queen Elizabeth II

In recent news, Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8th, 2022. This is news is significant because she ruled over England for over 70 years, which is the longest time any monarch has served. Her reign started, when she was thrust into the throne on February 6th, 1959 after her father George VI died suddenly. She was only 25 when she became queen. She wouldn’t have had to be Queen so soon if her Uncle Edward VII hadn’t resigned as King, because he couldn’t marry his wife. She had a sister named Princess Margret Countess of Snowdon, who died on February 9th, 2002: they were raised together and were very close.

The Queen was married to Prince Phillip, the Duke of Edinburgh. Prince Phillip and the Queen together had 4 children. Prince Phillip passed away almost a year apart from the queen. One of their children was Prince Charles. Since the queen passed away, he is now King Charles. The other children she had, were Princess Anne of Edinburgh, Prince Andrew Duke of York (her favorite), and lastly Prince Edward Earl of Wessex. She went on to have many grandchildren, including Prince William. He is next in line for the throne and Prince Harry.

With popular shows such as The Crown on Netflix which debuted on November 4th, 2016, many people have common knowledge about the royal household. The show was a huge success, I am someone who has always been interested in the Royal Family but some people are not. Some people say that “it’s not my country so it doesn’t matter” but I think there is a lot to unpack. So I asked my friends and family some questions and here are their answers. Some said that they know a lot about the royal family and watch many documentaries. The ones that don’t say that they do know about the scandals surrounding the royal family, especially with Diana. When asked who their favorite Royal is some said, Queen Elizabeth. Some also said that they loved Diana and what she stood for, but others said that they liked Harry – which is a very popular answer. Although they like Harry, they do not like that he is separated from the Royal Family.

When asked what your reaction was when you found out the Queen had died, sophomore Atiana Pilipovic said “I wasn’t shocked that she passed. If anything it was just another piece of news. However, I was just disappointed that a King would be next. Elizabeth was a very important monarch because she was a woman in power.”

Sophomore Alexis Moore also said, “I thought people were lying at first because the Queen seemed timeless. She ruled for a very long time and as a woman, which is a pretty big deal, so it was shocking to hear that she passed”.

Now that Charles is king, I asked them if they thought Charles is going to be a good Monarch. Some people said that they feel he is fit to be King because he has been training his whole life, but Atiana said that she thought his younger sister, Princess Anne, would be a better Monarch.

Finally, Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral was on September 19th. Although we all know it was a huge deal. My mom said, “I love to watch all the historic importance of the event. My favorite thing was that she was carried in a casket carried by a platform that was last used at Winston Churchill’s funeral because she was so close to him”. Queen Elizabeth II is truly someone who should be celebrated, and I hope she rests in peace. And while this might not affect us as much as the people in England who for some people she is all they have ever known. She is still a remarkable person who deserves to go down in history.