Queen Elizabeth II, who served as the ruling monarch of Great Britain for more than seven decades, perished at the age of 96, Buckingham Palace announced on Thursday evening.
Recently the health of England’s head of state, born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, has deteriorated and her royal duties have been phased out over the past year.
Several trips she would normally take were cancelled by her doctors with no explanation given.
But her battle is over and she is no more. She breathed her last breath inside the iconic Balmoral Castle while a myriad of onlookers stood outside braving the pouring rain.
The late Queen, whose last few years at the throne had been marred by tragedy and scandal, was the last monarch to hold “so much” sway in South African politics, according to political analyst, professor Sipho Seepe.
“She played a role in terms of the South African struggle,” Seepe told Weekend Argus.
“Most of the African leaders remained enthralled by her – meeting her became the highlights of their political career,” he said.
The Queen, who was born at 2.40am on April 21, 1926 in Mayfair, Central London, visited South Africa in 1947 with her late father and predecessor King George, mother Elizabeth and younger sister, Princess Margaret.
She commemorated her 21st birthday during this tour and also delivered a speech in Cape Town. In 1995 and 1999 she again visited South Africa with her late husband, Prince Philip, in her capacity as Head of the Commonwealth. Until 1961 South Africa was a self-governing country that shared a monarch with the United Kingdom.
Last year her husband of nearly 70 years succumbed to a long sickbed.
Renowned Royal correspondent Charles Ray said the late Nelson Mandela was the only person he ever heard refer to the Queen as Elizabeth.
“And she called him Nelson. He had great affection for her – and she for him,” Ray said.
Tata Madiba and the Queen had a tight bond. He even dubbed her Motlalepula. It means the one who brings rain.
It is no secret that the Queen was heavily opposed against the apartheid regime.
According to British media and the Netflix special, The Crown, she and the Prime Minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher had heated arguments over the imposing of sanctions on the regime.
“While Mrs Thatcher insisted it was not in the UK’s economic interests to do so, Her Majesty wanted the UK to stand alongside the 48 other countries in the Commonwealth in opposing the racist government,” said Express, a major UK news outlet.
“Their disagreement fractured the relationship between Prime Minister and monarch, and the Queen is then seen deliberately leaking her displeasure to the press, breaching her position of political impartiality.”
Back in February she contracted Covid-19. In April she said the virus had left her feeling “very tired.”
The Queen’s heir is her son Prince Charles, 73.
She was the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, who became King George VI, and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.
Her uncle ascended the throne as Edward VIII in 1936, but less than a year later Edward abdicated to marry a divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson.
George then ascended the throne as the third monarch of the House of Windsor and Princess Elizabeth became the heir to the British throne.
She was crowned on June 2, 1953 at Westminster Abbey in front of 8,500 guests.
The coronation ceremony was the first to be broadcast live on television and lead to an increase in sales of television sets.
Image (Loved and respected worldwide. The late Queen Elizabeth had a special place in her heart for the late and first democratically elected SA Pres Dr Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela).
