Who ruled Britain for 71 years?

Elizabeth II dies aged 96

Queen Elizabeth II, who ruled Britain for more than seven decades, died at the age of 96. He died on Thursday evening at Balmoral Palace in Scotland.

Born in Mayfair, London on April 21, 1926, Elizabeth is Britain's longest-reigning head of state. She is also the second longest reigning ruler in the world after Louis XIV of France. Along with Britain, he is the head of state of 14 other Commonwealth countries.

Queen Elizabeth had many ups and downs in life. She also set many records. 15 Prime Ministers in Britain and 14 Presidents in America have changed during Elizabeth's reign.

Elizabeth is seen as a dignified head of state who represents 'stability and continuity'. She witnessed many unpleasant incidents in her family life but was not disturbed. Elizabeth was second in line to the royal family when she was a princess. It was very unlikely that she would become Queen of Britain. But in December 1936, when King Edward III decided to abdicate the throne to marry an American woman, the 10-year-old became the heir to the palace.

Eldest daughter Elizabeth succeeded her father, Prince Albert, as King George IV. After the death of her father, she ascended the throne on February 6, 1952, at the age of 25. At that time, Britain was trying to strengthen itself economically and politically after the Second World War.

Having visited around 120 countries, Elizabeth held the record for the world's most traveled head of state. She traveled more than 1.6 million kilometers and participated in thousands of functions. She is one of the most photographed people in the world.

The Queen has already handed over some of her royal duties to her eldest son and heir Prince Charles due to health reasons. He had already made it clear that his wife Camilla would become Queen after Prince Charles became King.

Criticism of the royal family increased after Charles and Diana divorced in 1996 after 15 years of marriage. The following year, after Diana's death in a car accident in the French capital Paris, people became negative towards the monarchy. Elizabeth faced many challenges to repair Charles's broken marriage to Diana and to maintain public respect for the monarchy, which had been eroding since Diana's accident.

Diana, the mother of Princes William and Harry, died in a car accident in Paris, France, in August 1997. Later in 2005, Charles married Camilla Parker Bowles.

The Queen expressed her sadness when Prince Harry and Meghan decided to leave the palace three years ago. Later, after losing her husband in June 2021, she was tormented by 'loneliness'. Six months later, son Andrew was stripped of his royal title due to allegations of sexual misconduct.

A grand ceremony was held last June to mark the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's accession to the throne. Tens of millions of Britons took part in the 'Platinum Jubilee' celebrations, which were held over four days of public holidays. On that occasion, the Queen waved to the soldiers and thousands of civilians from the balcony of the palace, among members of the royal family, including Prince Charles, the Duke of Kent.

She used to keep goodwill towards Nepal as well. Elizabeth had a special relationship with Nepal because of the British royal family's deep faith in Gurkha soldiers.