Cape Town - Queen Elizabeth II, who served as Great Britain’s ruling monarch for more than seven decades, died at the age of 96, Buckingham Palace announced on Thursday evening.
Born Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor, England’s head of state’s health deteriorated in the last few months and her royal duties were phased out. In February, she contracted Covid-19 and in April, she said the virus had left her feeling "very tired."
She died at Balmoral Castle with her family at her bedside while thousands of supporters gathered outside braving the pouring rain.
The late Queen, whose last few years on the throne had been marred by tragedy and scandal, was the last monarch to hold “so much” sway in South African politics, said political analyst professor Sipho Seepe.
“She played a small role in terms of the South African struggle,” Seepe told Weekend Argus.
“Most of the African leaders remained enthralled by her - meeting her became the highlights of their political career,” he said.
The Queen, who was born on April 21, 1926 in Mayfair, Central London, visited South Africa in 1947 with her late father and predecessor King George, mother Elizabeth and younger sister, Princess Margaret.
She commemorated her 21st birthday during this tour and also delivered a speech in Cape Town. In 1995 and 1999 she again visited South Africa with her late husband, Prince Philip, in her capacity as head of the Commonwealth. Until 1961 South Africa was a self-governing country that shared a monarch with the United Kingdom.
Last year her husband of more than 70 years succumbed to a long sickbed.
Renowned Royal correspondent Charles Ray said the late Nelson Mandela was the only person he ever heard refer to the Queen as Elizabeth.
“And she called him Nelson. He had great affection for her – and she for him," Ray said.
“Tata Madiba and the Queen had a tight bond. He even dubbed her Motlalepula which roughly translates to ‘one who brings rain’”.
It is no secret that the Queen was heavily opposed to the apartheid regime.
According to British media and the Netflix special, The Crown, she and the prime minister at the time, Margaret Thatcher had heated arguments over the imposing of sanctions on the regime.
“While Mrs Thatcher insisted it was not in the UK’s economic interests to do so, Her Majesty wanted the UK to stand alongside the 48 other countries in the Commonwealth in opposing the racist government,” said the Express, a major UK news outlet.
“Their disagreement fractured the relationship between Prime Minister and monarch, and the Queen is then seen deliberately leaking her displeasure to the press, breaching her position of political impartiality.”
The queen was the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, who became King George VI, and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.
Her uncle ascended the throne as Edward VIII in 1936, but less than a year later Edward abdicated to marry a divorced American socialite Wallis Simpson.
George then ascended the throne as the third monarch of the House of Windsor and Princess Elizabeth became the heir to the British throne.
She was crowned on June 2, 1953 at Westminster Abbey in front of 8,500 guests.
The coronation ceremony was the first to be broadcast live on television and lead to an increase in sales of television sets.
Prince Charles, 73,l ascends to the throne as King Charles III.
With the death of his mother, Charles has finally become king of the United Kingdom and 14 other realms, ending a wait of more than 70 years - the longest by an heir in British history.
The role will be daunting. His late mother was overwhelmingly popular and respected, but she leaves a royal family that has seen reputations tarnished and relationships strained, including over lingering allegations of racism against Buckingham Palace officials.
Charles confronts those challenges at the age of 73, the oldest monarch to take the throne in a lineage that dates back 1,000 years, with his second wife Camilla, who still divides public opinion, by his side.
To detractors, the new king is weak, vain, interfering, and ill-equipped for the role of sovereign.
He has been ridiculed for talking to plants and obsessing over architecture and the environment, and will long be associated with his failed first marriage to the late Princess Diana. - additional reporting Reuters
Weekend Argus.