Queen Elizabeth is gone

I'm not British. I mean according to Ancestry I'm like 37% (weird) so I am.. but I'm not.  BUT my company is headquartered out of the UK so again... kind of am.  I've been planning a UK Board meeting for 4+ months... they are coming tomorrow... and FULL STOP. QUEEN ELIZABETH HAS DIED.

I cried.  Not going to lie. I cried.  More than once. Don't know the woman.. but for whatever reason her work ethic, her sense of duty, her love for her people... was palpable. I'm a Royal family junkie. I know where I was when Diana died.  I love William and Kate, I love Harry and Megan, I love the Queen.  Charles.. meh... but after his address today.. (I cried) and I kind of wanted to hug him.  He's now lost his mom and his dad and that made him just like me.  Human.  

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/queen-elizabeth-live-updates-king-charles-address-britain-mourns-rcna46973

Cried. I cried. A few times I cried.

She was SO young.  21 and she took on the responsibility of the world. How many soccer games did she commit to miss?  How many missed bed time kisses? How many skinned knees did she not kiss or bandage? I'm not saying that would have been my choice but I wasn't born into royalty. There is just something... something that made yesterday a terrible, rotten, day.

This was, or was close to her last public outing.. 70th Jubilee.. man she's amazing. 

(not gonna lie... sad Harry and Megan aren't here)

Today this was posted... and yup, you guessed it.. cried again.

And tomorrow, I board a plane, and I go and meet 10 Board members from the UK and I can honestly say, if I shed a tear, I will not be ashamed.  She was a woman of strength, integrity, love, kindness and she was mother and Sovereign Queen all at once. I'm barely mastering the mom part.

Queen Elizabeth, thank you... thank you for the years.  For the missed moments because you made an oath and you stuck to it.  You weren't perfect and you made mistakes... but you can 1,000% know that you did what you said you would... and for that.. I am grateful.

Rest in peace.. and Long live the King.

More here...

Good morning. After 70 years, the reign of Queen Elizabeth II is over.

The queen on a visit to Germany in 2015.Sean Gallup/Getty Images

An era ends

She became queen when Britain was only seven years removed from World War II, and she went on to have the longest recorded reign of any monarch in world history other than Louis XIV.

That 70-year reign ended yesterday, when Queen Elizabeth II died at 96 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, her country estate. Her oldest son, Charles, immediately became king and will be formally crowned in coming months. In the meantime, Britain has begun a scripted 10-day ritual that only a tiny share of living people can recall having witnessed before.

Today’s newsletter will give you the latest news as well as the full breadth of Times coverage on Elizabeth’s life and death. We’ll also point you to some of the best coverage from elsewhere. And my colleagues Claire Moses and Ian Prasad Philbrick have compiled highlights of Times stories about Elizabeth dating to the announcement of her birth as Princess Elizabeth, the niece of King Edward VIII and a child that few imagined would one day be queen.

The news

Elizabeth “survived tectonic shifts in her country’s post-imperial society and weathered successive challenges posed by the romantic choices, missteps and imbroglios of her descendants,” Alan Cowell writes in The Times’s obituary of her. Charles, 73, is taking the title King Charles III. Charles I was beheaded in 1649. Charles II, his son, fled to France but was restored to the throne in 1660. Elizabeth was committed to royal rituals but also modernized the monarchy by mingling with crowds, embracing Instagram, starring in spoof videos and even playing a joke on two American tourists who didn’t recognize her. President Biden called her a monarch who “defined an era” and ordered American flags flown at half-staff. As a girl at the railroad station. As a princess greeting World War II troops. As a bride on her wedding day. See images of Elizabeth’s life. From Prince William (next in line) to Lucas Tindall (No. 23): This is the new order of succession. An Elizabeth reading list: Times editors recommend nine books that cover the turbulence, celebration, success and scandal of her long reign.

Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953.PA Images, via Getty Images

What’s to come

Elizabeth’s death starts several days of ritual pomp and mourning, mainly created in the late 19th century by Queen Victoria and her son Edward VII.

Charles will address the nation as king for the first time today. On Saturday, heralds will travel by horse to London’s Trafalgar Square to read a proclamation declaring his reign. In the coming days, Charles will travel to capitals across the United Kingdom — Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast — and high sheriffs in traditional garb will announce the new monarch in towns and villages. The queen’s coffin will rest at Buckingham Palace for four days, then lie in state in Westminster Hall for several more, atop a platform draped in regal purple with guards at each corner. The funeral will be roughly 10 days after the queen’s death. Protocol calls for the nation to fall silent as her procession pauses at the entrance to Westminster Abbey. After the ceremony, her coffin will be placed on the same green gun carriage that carried her predecessors to their resting places — typically St. George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.

Elizabeth in The Times

Welcome, Elizabeth: The Times announced the birth of the new princess on April 21, 1926, under the headline “Empire Rejoices Over New Princess.” It described her as “the fourth lady in the land” and “a possible, though improbable, successor to the throne of England.”

Wartime princess: When Elizabeth was 14, she delivered her first radio address, speaking to young people displaced by World War II. “And when peace comes, remember it will be for us, the children of today, to make the world of tomorrow a better and happier place,” she said.

Becoming queen: Reporting on her coronation ceremony in 1953, The Times wrote that “her face grew graver as it progressed.” The crown, which weighed five pounds, made her chin drop when it was placed on her head. In Cuba, Ernest Hemingway set off fireworks and fired two 21-gun salutes.

Her husband: Elizabeth was married to Prince Philip, who died last year at 99, for nearly three-quarters of a century. A Times reporter described his knelt vow to be her “liege man of life and limb” as “the most poignant moment” of her coronation, with Elizabeth appearing to wipe away a tear.

Dozens of leaders: Fifteen British prime ministers, including Winston Churchill and — entering office a few days ago — Liz Truss, served under Elizabeth. The queen also met with all U.S. presidents since the end of World War II, except for Lyndon B. Johnson. It’s unclear why they never met.

Diana: The British public broadly criticized Elizabeth’s early response to the 1997 death of Diana, Princess of Wales, including the royal family’s initial refusal to fly flags at half-staff and Elizabeth’s reported demand for a private funeral.

Slow news days: In past decades, The Times covered even minor developments in Elizabeth’s life, like her 36th birthday or a trip to Belgium. On Dec. 19, 1952, a dispatch reported that Elizabeth was the first reigning British monarch to see a public performance of the circus. On April 24, 1960, a short piece carried the headline: “Queen Elizabeth Has a Cold.”