RIP Queen Elizabeth Mary II

The Dean of Westminster has sent his condolences to His Majesty The King and upon the death of Queen Elizabeth II, on behalf of all at Westminster Abbey.

As a royal church, Westminster Abbey had a special relationship with the Queen. Over the course of her life, she came here often for state occasions and national services, and some of the most important moments of her life took place here.

In 1937, the 11-year-old Princess Elizabeth watched her father, King George VI, being crowned at the Abbey. It was in the Abbey that she married Prince Philip, on 20th November 1947. Then on 2nd June 1953, her own coronation took place here.

Over the years there were many joyful occasions including very memorably, the marriage of her grandson, Prince William, to Catherine Middleton in April 2011. There were sombre times too as the nation grieved alongside her at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother in April 2002, and during national acts of remembrance including anniversaries for the First and Second World Wars.

Given her great affection for the Commonwealth, the Abbey’s annual Commonwealth Day service was a particularly important day in Queen Elizabeth’s calendar. She was Head of the Commonwealth for more than 70 years, succeeding her father upon her accession to the throne in 1952.

In 2018, Elizabeth II opened The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries, a new museum displaying the Abbey’s greatest treasures in the medieval triforium. In the same year, a stained-glass window by artist David Hockney was unveiled in the north transept to celebrate her reign.

The Queen’s last visit to the Abbey was in March, when she attended a Service of Thanksgiving for the life and work of her husband of 73 years, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.

The Dean of Westminster’s full statement following the death of HM The Queen is on our website at: https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-news/westminster-abbey-sends-condolences-to-his-majesty-the-king-on-the-death-of

Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has passed away. An era has come to an end. She remained faithful to the oath she took when she ascended the throne. She was the most successful, powerful and gentle Queen of the world. She always raised her people, her country and her Empire. When I was living in England, I met her at a ceremony and offered my courtesy. May her soul rest in peace and She has found his beloved husband. My condolences to all my friends in England and the British Commonwealth.
Goodwill Ambassador
Ersin Faikzade

Queen Elizabeth II has passed away, 8th August 2022: The Standard remembers her life and her reign through pictures:

1) A royal birth: Joy amid gloom of grey skies and a general strike
2) A love affair: The Princess and the gallant naval cadet Philip
3) Family life: Royal baby’s arrival is marked by blue fountains
4) A final wave: Six days after saying goodbye to his daughter, frail King passes away
5) The Coronation: Crowning moment was a tonic for a nation that was enduring
austerity after the war
6) The Fifties: New Elizabethans: A six-month tour abroad without her children — and
Margaret’s dilemma
7) The Seventies — the Jubilee years
8) The Eighties — Charles and Diana
9) New century: Jubilee celebrations tinged with sadness without Margaret and her
mother
10) Final years: Pomp and pageantry to mark a very special royal occasion

Read the first of thirteen parts in an obituary of the Queen using the link in our bio