LONDON (AP) — British politicians throughout the political spectrum united in sorrow Thursday on the dying of Queen Elizabeth II, a passing that introduced the nation’s often fractious politics to a halt.
The queen’s dying at age 96 will probably be marked with 10 days of nationwide mourning, culminating in a state funeral for the monarch.
Important authorities capabilities will proceed, however a lot of the routine enterprise of politics will probably be placed on pause. Parliamentary enterprise will give option to two days of tributes from lawmakers within the Home of Commons on Friday and Saturday.
New Prime Minister Liz Truss, who was informed of the information about 90 minutes earlier than it was made public, mentioned the nation was “devastated” by the dying of the monarch on Thursday, calling her “the rock on which fashionable Britain was constructed.”
“We are actually a contemporary, thriving, dynamic nation,” Truss mentioned exterior her 10 Downing St. residence in London. “By means of thick and skinny, Queen Elizabeth II supplied us with the steadiness and the power that we would have liked.
“She was the very spirit of Nice Britain – and that spirit will endure,” Truss mentioned.
She ended her assertion with phrases that no British chief has mentioned for 70 years: “God save the king.”
Truss was appointed by the queen simply 48 hours earlier at Balmoral Fort in Scotland, turning into the fifteenth prime minister to serve throughout Elizabeth’s reign. The queen died at Balmoral on Thursday afternoon after 70 years on the throne.
The Union Jack flag atop the prime minister’s residence was lowered to half-staff after the monarch’s dying was introduced.
Truss’s predecessor, Boris Johnson, mentioned “that is our nation’s saddest day.”
He mentioned the passing of the one monarch most Britons have ever identified would provoke “a deep and private sense of loss – much more intense, maybe, than we anticipated.”
However Johnson mentioned her inheritor, 73-year-old King Charles III, would “amply do justice to her legacy.”
Opposition Labour Get together chief Keir Starmer additionally paid tribute to a constitutional monarch he mentioned was “above the clashes of politics.”
“She stood not for what the nation fought over, however what it agreed upon. As Britain modified quickly round her, this dedication grew to become the nonetheless level of our turning world,” he mentioned. “In order our nice Elizabethan period involves an finish, we’ll honor the late queen’s reminiscence by protecting alive the values of public service she embodied.”
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