The Queen is dead! What happens next?
On April 21, 1926, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born. Later on in her life, she would become one of the most important people in England, as she was crowned the Queen of England on June 2nd, 1953. Over 70 years later, the crown has finally been passed down, for she has been pronounced dead. This will affect the world in numerous ways, but before we get into the global consequences, we need to understand how things are playing out in England.
The Queen several years ago.
“Her death felt very weird,” said junior Nathaniel Amaya. “She’s been alive for so long that she felt immortal.”
The Queen was announced to have passed away on September 8th, 2022 at the age of 97. This has understandably shocked England and the rest of the world as the Queen has been ruling England for longer than most of us have been alive, and it’s shocking to have someone who looked like they were going to live forever finally die. Because of this, England saw a ten-day period of mourning, where many forms of entertainment were banned and some businesses were even closed for the ten days. This, of course, slightly hurt the country's economy, with less money going around.
Because of the repercussions of the queen’s death, some British citizens went to protest against the mourning period, claiming that this was unneeded and that monarchy needed to be abolished. Most of these protests went ignored, although some protestors got arrested by police for disrespecting the mourning period of the queen.
The consequences don’t stop there, though, as the rest of the world is seeing changes from the passing of the queen as well.
Canada’s $20 bill has a picture of Queen Elizabeth II on it, which will have to be changed in the future due to her death. Not only Canada’s bills will change, but other former British colonies, such as Australia, will also have to make reprints at some point in the future.
Moments after the Queen died, the crown was passed onto Charles III, who is now the king of England. This sudden change in leadership has been quite controversial for many, as some British residents have protested against the new king, with phrases such as “Who elected you?!”
“Honestly, I had no idea there was already a new king,” said senior Alex Knappenberger. And he isn’t the only one who feels this way, as many of the general public have not heard much about King Charles III.
Along with the controversy with the new king, the change in leadership will also affect the world globally in a minor way, as it always does when a global power has a change in leadership.
On September 19th, 2022, the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II took place, ending the ten days of mourning, and finally pushing Britain into a new era, with a new king.
If you have any comments, questions, or feedback, feel free to email me.
Sources:
The Queens Death: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-61585886
Anti-Monarchy Protests: https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/16/europe/anti-monarchy-protests-police-intl-gbr/index.html
King Charles III: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-59135132
The Queens Funeral: https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2022/09/19/1123771784/in-pictures-the-state-funeral-of-queen-elizabeth-ii
