
America turned its eyes to the previous nation on Thursday, after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. When information of her sudden decline broke, tv networks broke into programing — nearly as if a US President had died. In New York, the US Open tennis match and the United Nations held moments of silence to honor her passing. In Washington, flags on official buildings have been lowered to half-staff.
Throughout a reign that lasted seven decades, the Queen and the royal household conjured fascination, affection and even some jealousy in a nation that broke away from the throne nearly 250 years in the past.
She met 13 US Presidents, beginning with a go to to Washington to see Harry Truman earlier than she grew to become Queen. (Her first official head-of-state assembly with a US commander-in-chief was with Dwight Eisenhower). President Joe Biden, who stopped by the British embassy in Washington on Thursday to signal a ebook of condolences, was the final President to carry official talks with the Queen.
In an announcement, Biden despatched “our deepest condolences to the Royal Household, who usually are not solely mourning their Queen, however their expensive mom, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Her legacy will loom giant within the pages of British historical past, and within the story of our world.”
And amid the official rituals of remembrance, there have been some smaller, however poignant gestures. In Santa Monica, California, patrons confirmed up at “Ye Olde King’s Head” a restaurant and present store, to purchase memorabilia and share recollections of the Queen.