The darkest day – celebrating devoted Queen’s amazing life and sad death, one year on
ok.co.ukShe may have been the longest-serving monarch in British royal history, but the Queen’s death on 8 September, 2022 – after a record-breaking 70 years on the throne – nonetheless came as a devastating blow to the nation.
Unrealistic as it may have seemed, many of us simply thought she would go on forever. She had been a pillar of stability throughout the lives of generations of Britons – a steadying hand guiding her people during troubled times, but also a figurehead for celebration during some of our country’s most triumphant moments.
So when she finally passed away “peacefully”, aged 96, at her beloved Balmoral estate in Scotland, the grief was palpable. “It was a seismic shock to everybody,” says royal expert Richard Fitzwilliams. “Her death had been anticipated, for obvious reasons, but everybody hoped it would somehow be put off.
I expect that was the case for the royal family as well. “There was a hope that, with the Queen Mother’s longevity and the fact that the late Duke of Edinburgh nearly made it to 100, that would possibly be what would happen with the Queen, too. “The fact that it didn’t was something that I think everyone was so sad about.” Fortunately, behind-the-scenes preparations – decades in the making – ensured as smooth a transition as possible when she left us.
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