STAY WITH US. WE HAVE SOME BREAKING NEWS. SANDRA. >> Sandra: THE QUEEN HAS PASSED AWAY. THE QUEEN DIED PEACEFULLY, THE ROYAL FAMILY SAYS AT BALMORAL THIS AFTERNOON. THE KING AND THE QUEEN CONSORT WILL REMAIN AT BALMORAL THIS EVENING AND WILL RETURN TO LONDON TOMORROW. QUEEN ELIZABETH II HAS DIED AT THE AGE OF 96.
JOHN, ARE HER HEALTH IN JUST RECENT WEEKS AND MONTHS, OBVIOUSLY WAS CALLED INTO QUESTION. THERE WERE SOME INSTANCES AT AROUND HER BIRTHDAY BACK IN APRIL SHE MISSED DUE TO HER HEALTH DECLINING AND IT HAS COME TO THIS DAY WE NOW SAY GOODBYE TO QUEEN ELIZABETH II. >> John: I MEAN, WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT HER REIGN, IT IS REMARKABLE.
SHE BECAME QUEEN UPON HER FATHER CHARLES VI DEATH, HER CORONATION WAS JUNE 3RD THE FOLLOWING YEAR, BUT SHE HAS SAT ON THE THRONE FOR 70 YEARS NOW, BECOMING NOT ONLY THE LONGEST REIGNING MONARCH IN U.K. HISTORY, BUT THE LONGEST REIGNING MONARCH IN THE WORLD HISTORY AS WELL, AND SHE REMAINED VITAL RIGHT UP UNTIL THE VERY END.
I MEAN, IT IS A SAD DAY IN THE U.K. AND AROUND THE WORLD. THE PASSING OF QUEEN ELIZABETH, BUT WHAT AN AMAZING LIFE SHE LIVED. WHAT AMAZING SERVICE SHE DELIVERED TO THE U.K. AND 14 OTHER COMMONWEALTH COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD. AND THE FACT SHE WAS SO BELOVED HERE IN THE UNITED STATES DESPITE THIS COUNTRY’S HISTORY WITH BRITAIN GOING BACK TO THE 1700s, I MEAN, REALLY IS A TESTAMENT TO HER BEING A FORCE OF NATURE AND SUCH A PERSON TO LOOK UP TO IN SO MANY COUNTRIES AROUND THE WORLD.
YOU KNOW, AS WE DIGEST THIS NEWS HERE, LET’S GO TO MARTHA MacCallum HAS PREPARED THIS WONDERFUL LOOK BACK AT THE QUEEN’S LIFE. >> Martha: QUEEN ELIZABETH II Was BORN INTO THE ROYAL WINDSOR FAMILY ON APRIL 21, 1926. AT BIRTH, AS THE OLDEST DAUGHTER OF THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF YORK AND NIECE TO THE KING, NO ONE EXPECTED LITTLE ELIZABETH ALEXANDRA MARY WOULD ONE DAY BE THE LONGEST SERVING AND MOST RESPECTED.
A LOVE STORY WOULD TRANSFORM HER CHILDHOOD INTO A DIFFERENT DESTINY. PRINCE EDWARD ABDICATED THE THRONE, SO HER FATHER WAS TO THE THRONE IN 1936, MAKING HIS OLDEST AND 10-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER ELIZABETH HIS HEIR TO THE THRONE. AT AGE 14, THE HOME-SCHOOLED PRINCESS TOOK ON SOME ROYAL DUTIES.
OUTWARD EXPRESSION OF STRENGTHS AND RESILIENCE AS ENGLAND WAS BATTERED BRI THE BLITZ IN WORLD WAR II. 1945, AGE 18, TRAINED AS A DRIVER AND MECHANIC IN THE WOMEN’S AUXILIARY SERVICE. SHE AND HER SISTER MARGARET LATER JOINED THOSE CELEBRATING VE DAY ON THE STREETS OF LONDON. LIKE THOUSANDS OF OTHERS, SHE ALSO HAD A SWEETHEART IN THE ARMED FORCES.
HER THIRD COUSIN, PRINCE PHILIP OF GREECE. THEY WERE ENGAGED TO BE MARRIED SHORTLY AFTER THE PRINCESS’S 23rd BIRTH. 1947 IN WESTMINSTER ABBY BRIGHTENED THE GLOOM OF THE POST-WAR YEARS. CHARLES, PRINCE OF WALES WAS BORN. THEN FOLLOWED BY PRINCESS ANNE IN 1950, ANDREW IN 1959, AND EDWARD IN 1963.
1952, IN KENYA, SHE LEARNED THE TRAGIC NEWS THAT HER BELOVED FATHER, THE KING, HAD DIED. IN AN INSTANT, THE 25-YEAR-OLD BECAME THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND. >> AT MY CORONATION I WILL DEDICATE MYSELF ANEW TO YOUR SERVICE. >> ELIZABETH WAS TO RULE IN A NEW ERA, HER CORONATION IN ALL ITS SPLENDOR WAS THE FIRST TO BE BROADCAST ON TELEVISION.
AS MILLIONS AROUND THE GLOBE WATCHED THE TRANSFORMATION AS IT HAPPENED. IN 1957, QUEEN ELIZABETH MET PRESIDENT EISENHOWER. SHE WOULD GO ON TO MEET EVERY U.S. PRESIDENT DURING HER REIGN SINCE LYNDON JOHNSON. SHE OFTEN SPOKE OF THE STRONG AND VITAL BOND BETWEEN AMERICA AND THE U.K. IN THE 1990S, CAME TURBULENT TIMES FOR THE ROYAL FAMILY AS THE MARRIAGES OF THREE OF THE QUEEN’S CHILDREN FELL APART, ALL UNDER THE SCRUTINY OF RELENTLESS TV COVERAGE AND TABLOID HEADLINES.
THEN IN 1997, DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES AND MOTHER TO THE PRINCES WILLIAM AND HARRY, WAS KILLED IN A CAR CRASH IN FRANCE. AS SHE WAS HOUNDED BY THE PAPARAZZI. AT THE TIME THE QUEEN WAS CRITICIZED FOR HER RESERVED RESPONSE. AND PERSUADED TO MAKE AN UNPRECEDENTED LIVE BROADCAST. >> SO WHAT I SAY TO YOU NOW AS YOUR QUEEN AND AS A GRANDMOTHER, I SAY FROM MY HEART, FIRST I WANT TO PAY TRIBUTE TO DIANA MYSELF.
SHE WAS AN EXCEPTIONAL AND GIFTED HUMAN BEING. >> Martha: OVER TIME, THE REPUTATION REBOUNDED. IN APRIL OF 2011, THE QUEEN ATTENDED PRINCE WILLIAM’S WEDDING TO KATE MIDDLETON, SOME 2 BILLION PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD WATCHED THE CEREMONY. SHE ALSO MADE AN HISTORIC VISIT TO THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND, THE FIRST BRITISH MONARCH TO DO SO IN ALMOST A CENTURY, A STEP TOWARD HEALING A LONG AND PAINFUL DIVIDE.
THE FOLLOWING YEAR THE COUNTRY TURNED OUT IN FORCE TO CELEBRATE QUEEN ELIZABETH’S 60-YEAR REIGN, A DIAMOND JUBILEE CELEBRATION SPANNING FOUR DAYS. THOUSANDS LINED THE BANKS OF THE THAMES AS THE FLOTILLA OF 1,000 BOATS LED BY THE QUEEN MADE ITS WAY DOWN THE WEATHER. THE WORST OF BRITISH WEATHER TRIED BUT FAILED TO DAMPEN THE MOOD.
THE QUEEN AND PRINCE STOOD SIDE-BY-SIDE FOR THE FOUR-HOUR CEREMONY. >> I WILL CONTINUE TO TREASURE AND DRAW INSPIRATION FROM THE KINDNESS SHOWN TO ME IN THIS COUNTRY AND THROUGHOUT THE COMMONWEALTH, THANK YOU ALL. >> IN 2013, THE QUEEN WELCOMED HER THIRD GREAT-GRANDCHILD, MUCH ANTICIPATED PRINCE GEORGE, SON OF WILLIAM AND KATE.
AND NOW ANOTHER GEORGE IS SECOND IN LINE TO THE BRITISH THRONE. HIS YOUNGER SISTER, PRINCESS CHARLOTTE, IS THIRD. SHE WAS BORN IN 2015. AND LATER THAT YEAR, QUEEN ELIZABETH BECAME BRITAIN’S LONGEST REIGNING MONARCH, OVERTAKING HER GREAT, GREAT GRANDMOTHER, QUEEN VICTORIA. IN 2016, THE QUEEN CELEBRATED HER 90TH BIRTHDAY.
THAT WAS A FOUR-DAY EVENT HONORING THE QUEEN’S DEEP INVOLVEMENT WITH THE ARMED FORCES AND GIVING THE NATION A CHANCE TO CELEBRATE HER LIFE. 2018, THE QUEEN WATCHED ON AS GRANDSON PRINCE HARRY MARRIED THE AMERICAN ACTRESS MEGHAN MARKLE, IN A CEREMONY THAT BROUGHT GLAMOUR AND HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY TO THE HOUSE OF WINDSOR AND LED THEM INTO THE 21st CENTURY.
ABOUT A YEAR LATER, HARRY AND MEGHAN WOULD FAMOUSLY DECIDE TO LEAVE THE ROYAL FAMILY, MOVE TO AMERICA, AND GIVE A TELL-ALL INTERVIEW TO OPRAH WINFREY WHICH CAUSED DEEP DIVISIONS IN THE FAMILY. IN 2021, THE QUEEN’S BELOVED HUSBAND, PRINCE PHILIP, DIED AT THE AGE OF 99. THE NATION MOURNED WITH THE QUEEN BUT COVID RESTRICTIONS KEPT THE FUNERAL SMALL.
THE IMAGE OF THE QUEEN SITTING MASKED AND ALONE IN THE CHURCH BECAME THE IMAGE OF A COUNTRY BOTH IN MOURNING AND IN LOCKDOWN. BUT AS SHE HAD SO MANY TIMES BEFORE, THE QUEEN PERSEVERED. FROM AN EARLY AGE, QUEEN ELIZABETH WAS ONE OF THE MOST RECOGNIZED ROYALS AND RECOGNIZED WOMEN IN THE WORLD.
NEARLY A THIRD OF THE PLANET LIVED IN THE COMMONWEALTH THAT SHE RULED. SHE MANAGED TO COMBINE THE TRULY REGAL WITH THE COUNTRY WOMAN SIMPLE PLEASURES AND EMBODIED OLD-FASHIONED VALUES AND VIRTUE, FAITH, AND SELF-RESTRAINT, HONORING TO THE VERY END THE PLEDGE SHE HAD MADE WHEN SHE WAS JUST 21.
I DECLARE BEFORE YOU ALL THAT MY WHOLE LIFE, WHETHER IT BE LONG OR SHORT, SHALL BE DEVOTED TO YOUR SERVICE AND THE SERVICE OF OUR GREAT IMPERIAL FAMILY TO WHICH WE ALL BELONG.
