The year we lost the queen

The jubilee

The year began with much of the world reeling from the highly-contagious Omicron variant of Covid-19. In the UK, more than 1.2 million cases were recorded within the first week of 2022.

During her annual Christmas broadcast, Queen Elizabeth lamented the loss of her husband, Prince Philip, who died earlier in the year, but spoke of the importance of traditions and celebrating with family.

A month prior, she had announced she would be entering a quieter phase of her reign. Although the queen had stepped back from public duties, her presence still loomed large.

Ahead of the official February anniversary of her 70-year reign, she penned a letter to the public.

In it she announced Camilla's future title. She wrote: "I remain eternally grateful for, and humbled by, the loyalty and affection that you continue to give me.

“And when, in the fullness of time, my son Charles becomes king, I know you will give him and his wife Camilla the same support that you have given me; and it is my sincere wish that, when that time comes, Camilla will be known as queen consort as she continues her own loyal service."

In an emotional response, Prince Charles, 73, said he was “deeply conscious of the honour” bestowed on his wife of 16 years.

An estimated 16,000 street parties were held across the country to celebrate the jubilee in June. Councils were flooded with requests by people to celebrate the queen’s 70 years on the throne.

Roads were closed and schools and businesses shut as the country came to a halt for a four-day bank holiday weekend to mark the milestone.

Never before, and likely never again, had a monarch reigned over the UK for so long.

And for the first, but not the last time in 2022, British pageantry was on full display.

The spectacle included Trooping the Colour, a display of horsemanship and military precision on Horse Guards Parade by the 1st Battalion, Irish Guards and more than 1,200 officers and soldiers from the Household Division as the queen watched on.

The appearance was one of the few she made over the summer.

The funeral

In London, where the queen lived most of her life, piles of flowers were laid in front of Buckingham Palace, at Green Park and Hyde Park.

The sites were also flooded with hundreds of Paddington Bear teddies in honour of a short film released as part of the jubilee celebrations, where the pair had tea together and discussed their love of marmalade sandwiches.

Her death in Scotland triggered Operation Unicorn – the codename for the plan if the monarch died at Balmoral.

And on Sunday, September 11, the queen’s cortege began its sombre journey south.

Tractors and horse riders joined members of the public lining the route to pay their respects as the cortege, accompanied by Princess Anne, made the six-hour journey from Balmoral to Edinburgh.

It is estimated that 25,000 people lined the streets as it made its way to the Scottish capital.

The queen’s children, led by the current monarch, King Charles III, walked in procession behind the queen’s coffin as it made its way to St Giles' Cathedral.

After lying in state for 24 hours, the queen left her beloved second home of Scotland for the final time, flying to RAF Northholt shortly after 5.30pm.

Her coffin, draped in the royal standard, was removed from the plane by a bearer party and placed in the state hearse for the cortege’s journey to Buckingham Palace.

Crowds lined the streets in the dark and rain to catch a glimpse of the illuminated hearse as it made its way to her official residence.

The coffin was later taken to lie in state at Westminster Hall, where around 250,000 people lined up in “the queue”, as it came to be known, to file past and pay their respects.

At its longest, the wait time was more than 24 hours.

A live queue tracker was launched by the government to provide updates, and the Met Office issued the line its own weather forecast.

Chrissy Heerey, the final person to see the queen’s coffin, called the experience “one of the highlights of her life”.

"I was the last person to pay my respects to the Queen and it felt like a real privilege to do that. I'd already been round once, I went in at 1.15am this morning. It's one of the highlights of my life and I feel very privileged to be here," she said.

The queen’s state funeral was held in Westminster Abbey, with full British pomp and ceremony, in a service attended by around 2,000 people, including representatives from 168 countries, 18 monarchs, 55 presidents and 25 prime ministers.

Thousands of people filled the streets to get a last glimpse of the queen as the cortege made its final journey to Windsor for the burial.

Dozens of members of the royal household gathered outside the palace to bid farewell to the queen, bowing and curtsying as the cortege passed by.

Thousands lined the route once again, in scenes reminiscent of Scotland, as her coffin travelled south.

Crowds fell silent as the state hearse turned into the Long Walk in Windsor for the final stretch of the journey.

It came to a stop at the west steps of St George's Chapel, where a bearer party lifted the queen’s coffin and carried it up the steps for a committal service.

And in the final act of pageantry, the head of the queen’s household ceremoniously snapped his wand of office and placed it on her coffin, symbolically bringing the queen’s 70-year reign to an official end, at 4.57pm on September 19.

“The images of the Queen’s Funeral, in Edinburgh, London and Windsor will become part of our nations iconography,” Mr Fitzwilliams told The National.

“People will remember where they were when they heard of her death and a great many paid their respects as thousands filed past her coffin in Westminster Hall.

“Buckingham Palace too became a place of pilgrimage to honour a figure who seemed timeless and who has a special place in the nation’s affections and its collective memory.”

A lifetime’s duty finally over, the crown had already passed automatically to the queen’s eldest son at the moment of her death.

But from the earliest days of his reign, King Charles III appeared to be shaping up to be a very different monarch to his mother.

In less than a week after acceding to the throne, he had lost his cool in front of the cameras twice, betraying more emotion in days than his mother did in her entire seven decades-long reign.

“Oh golly… Oh God, I hate this,” he said, as his pen began to leak while signing a visitors book at Hillsborough Castle, near Belfast in Northern Ireland.

The scene had echoes of four days earlier, when he became irritated at the accession council, waving his hands to aides to move a pen holder and pens, which were in his way.

Within days, the king and queen consort retreated to Scotland to grieve in private, leaving the public to come to terms with the loss of a monarch who ruled longer than most of them had lived.

The year was nothing short of extraordinary, showcasing the “the best of British”, said Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine.

“First the stunning ceremonial performances surrounding the Platinum Jubilee and the joy of the whole country coming together in mutual celebration of our 96-year-old Monarch.

“Then the sadness and emotion of the Queen’s state funeral.

“This kind of dramatic, measured ceremony - including the scenes in Scotland - had never been witnessed before. The combination of all kinds of people united in grief and love was remarkable.

“The country felt unified and it is particularly sad this patriotic feeling fails to have any enduring legacy.”

Her majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Born: 2.40am on April 21, 1926, at 17 Bruton Street in Mayfair, London
Childhood: Spent in London and Royal Lodge, the family's home on the grounds of Windsor Great Park
Crowned: June 2, 1953, at Westminster Abbey at the age of 25
Married: November 20, 1947, to distant cousin, Philip Mountbatten
Children: Charles (1948), Anne (1950), Andrew (1960), Edward (1964)
Died: 3.10pm on September 8, 2022, at Balmoral, her Scottish home
Number of engagements carried out: More than 21,000
Gave royal assent to: Around 4,000 acts of parliament
Sworn in: 15 prime ministers
Hobbies: Horse riding and racing, mysteries, crossword puzzles and even watching wrestling on television
Nickname: Lilibet
Education: At home by tutors. Courses included French, mathematics, history, dancing, singing and art
Legacy: Longest reigning monarch in British history