A Royal Air Force helicopter flew over Buckingham Palace in London on Thursday as crowds of press, tourists, and concerned Britons learned of the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
A video shared by Esther Farrington shows what appears to be a Royal Air Force Chinook helicopter circling over the palace in Westminster following the death of the queen Thursday afternoon at age 96.
Members of the royal family on Thursday traveled to Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where the queen had been staying, on news that doctors were concerned for her health.
Queen Elizabeth II ascended the throne in 1952, making her the longest-lived and longest-reigning British monarch. The queens husband, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, died in 2021. They had four children, eight grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren.
The queens eldest son and heir to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, is now King Charles III.
“We mourn profoundly the passing of a cherished Sovereign and a much-loved Mother,” King Charles said in his first statement as monarch. “During this period of mourning and change, my family and I will be comforted and sustained by our knowledge of the respect and deep affection in which The Queen was so widely held.”
