Abbey where the late queen was married in 1957. And crowned back in 1953. When she was just 25 years old. Her astounding 70 years on the throne saw a world transformed. From scientific breakthroughs, world war ii, to a changing monarchy. And to her own changing family. Yet, threw it all this remarkable woman endured. Through 14 american president s, 15 british Prime Ministers, through financial crisis and, of course, the troubles through the rise of the internet and the fall of the berlin wall. In a few minutes, the royal navy will begin a procession to transport the queen from Westminster Hall where she has been lying at rest. Queen elizabeth ii led her people for over seven decades on the throne. She was 96 years old. The longest reigning monarch in british history. Along with joe, willie and me, we have u. S. Special correspondent for bbc catty kay. Its wonderful to be with you early this morning as we cover history in the making. Lets set the scene. Last night i posted a picture of
captions by vitac www.vitac.com looking right now at buckingham palace. people, though fewer in number, are still showing up at this hour. the embodiment, as cnn s max foster put it earlier in the program, of a nation slightly loss after the passing of queen elizabeth ii earlier today in scotland. she was, as many have said, the only monarch most britons have known. and she may have been the first british monarch most britons have known in a familiar, more regal sense, the first to usher in the modern united kingdom. christian am pour said tonight from the grand britain of her early childhood to the great britain of today. it read, the queen died peacefully at balmoral this afternoon. the king and the queen consort will remain at balmoral this evening and will return tomorrow. we saw a demonstration of remarkable continuity of secession, people outside the palace singing the national anthem with god save the queen replaced from here to the end of charles iii s reign
greeted the crowds that have been gathering for the queen. he gave a very moving speech. he praised his mother s unswerving devotion and promised to carry on the life of service and duty that she had ascribed herself to. these are the very first words that he spoke as king. watch this. i speak to you today with feelings of profound sorrow. throughout her life, her majesty, the queen, my beloved mother, was an inspiration, an example to me and to all of my family. and we owe her the most heartfelt debt any family could owe to their mother for her love, affection, guidance, understanding and example. queen elizabeth was a life well-lived, a promise with destiny kept and she s mourned most deeply in her passing. that promise of life-long service, i renew to all today. alongside the personal grief that all of my family are feeling, we also share with so many of you in the united kingdom, in all the countries where the queen was head of state in the commonwealth and across the w
was wise enough, particularly after the death of diana, to learn how to move the monarchy forward incrementally. and she was much more in touch in a personal way with people, and you know, so i think, you know, she s always been incredibly wise and she has never gone out she never went out sort of over her skis. she always sort of had almost a sixth sense of knowing not to be too far ahead of where the public was. but yet, to bring them along when it was necessary, and i think in terms of the transition now, she has particularly, it s notable that over the past months, when or month when charles was up in balmoral, he was with her many days, and i think it s it s important to remember that she has given him many tutorials on leadership, and at one point, he said, we learn by observing, and he s obviously learned by doing as well. but she has, as her father did before her, you know, she has provided a model and a guidebook, in a way, for him to reign. kate williams,
we have extensive live coverage up. there you see the president of the united states, president biden is at the british embassy right now paying his respects. he s signing the book of condolences at the british embassy in washington. you see him there with the british ambassador to the united states, karen peterson, the first lady of the united states, dr. jill biden as well. we ll monitor what the president is doing at the british embassy. we anticipate he ll be seeing something about queen elizabeth, expressing condolences, paying his respects to the united kingdom, to the british monarchy. live coverage coming up. i want to bring in max foster who is at buckingham palace watching all the history unfold for us. max, truly, truly significant moments unfolding. the longest serving head of state in the world, longest serving monarch in british history, something people are struggling to take in even though we knew the inevitable would be coming at some point. the crowds behi