(Dead at 96) Queen Elizabeth II👑

Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-serving British monarch, has died at 96

Queen Elizabeth II, whose seven decades on the throne of the United Kingdom was a longer reign than any other British monarch, has died at the age of 96.

The queen "died peacefully" on Thursday afternoon at Balmoral Castle, her estate in the Scottish Highlands, royal family officials announced.

Her son Charles, 73, is now king and will be known as King Charles III. After Thursday's announcement, a flood of condolences came in from all corners of the globe: world officials, cultural icons and everyday people alike. In recent years, the queen had taken on fewer public duties, occasionally canceling appearances in which her attendance was once tradition. Mobility issues had troubled her in recent months, and she had taken to spending much of her time at Windsor Castle, the family's country estate near London, and at Balmoral, the castle in Scotland. The death of Queen Elizabeth II revived longstanding criticism in the US over the monarchy’s enrichment from the British empire’s violent colonization of African, Asian and Caribbean nations and their diasporas.

Since her death on Thursday, American commentators, academics, and a former US diplomat, among others, took to social media and elsewhere to call for fully wrestling with the British monarchy’s lasting influence in light of the monarch’s death.