JUST IN: Queen Elizabeth II Dies at 96

LONDON, UK: Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has died in Scotland, the Royal Family announced on Thursday evening.

“The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow,” the royal family said in a statement.

Elizabeth, 96, was a symbol of stability and continuity even through royal scandals, the contraction of the British Empire and massive changes around the world. Only days ago, she oversaw the appointment of her 15th prime minister.

The formal succession will unfold over the next 10 days, with Charles giving the world a first glimpse of what he will be like as monarch. But on Thursday, the focus was on the passing of the queen, with Britons laying flowers outside Buckingham Palace in London and tributes pouring in from around the world.

The Queen’s passing on marks both the loss of a revered monarch – the only one most Britons have ever known and the end of a figure who served as a living link to the glories of World War II Britain, presided over its fitful adjustment to a post-colonial, post-imperial era and saw it through its bitter divorce from the European Union.

The royal family’s future under a new king, Charles, is uncertain. He remarried his second wife is Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall and his accession to the throne is no longer in doubt as it was during his personal struggles.

But Charles has long expressed a desire to streamline the family to make it less of a drain on the public purse. And the internal strife continues as the royals adapt to the departure of Harry and Meghan, who have made a new life in California.