The United Kingdom has lost its longest-reigning British monarch. But the Roal family has also lost a mother, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother. Queen Elizabeth II passed away on September 8 at 96 at one of her residences in Balmoral, Scotland.
Before Buckingham Palace announced her death, the family traveled and reunited to spend their last moments with the Queen, including the newly announced prince and princess of Wales, William and Kate.
© Getty Images
© GettyImagesAfter days of events to farewell Her Majesty, the couple brought their eldest children, Princes George, 9, and Charlotte, 7, to join the Windsor family and say goodbye to their Gan Gan in the state funeral held on Monday, September 19, 2022.
© GettyImagesGeorge and Charlotte, who also go by their new title of Princes of Wales, arrived with their parents by car at Westminster Hall. From there, Kate, Camilla, the new queen consort, and princes George and Charlotte continued by car to the abbey to await the arrival of the coffin of Elizabeth II.
© GettyImagesPrincess Charlotte of Wales cries at Wellington Arch after the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on September 19, 2022 in London, England.
© GettyImagesOnce there, the consorts joined the procession behind their grandfather, King Charles III, and between their parents and one step ahead of their uncles, the Dukes of Sussex.
© GettyImagesGeorge and Charlotte were at the religious service officiated by the Dean of Windsor and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
© GettyImagesBorn in Mayfair in 1926, Elizabeth was the eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of York, who later became King George VI and Queen Elizabeth after her uncle King Edward VIII abdicated.
Upon Edward’s abdication in 1936, Elizabeth became the heir presumptive. The Princess acceded to the throne following her father’s death in 1952. Elizabeth was in Kenya at the time of her father’s passing.
She returned to the UK as Queen with her coronation taking place over a year later on June 2, 1953 at Westminster Abbey. In 2015, Queen Elizabeth II became the longest-reigning British monarch and in 2022 she became the first British monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years of service.
