Queen Elizabeth II has died at 96 years of age on Sept 8 in Edinburgh, Scotland, ending a reign of being queen of England for 70 years. The entirety of England has a ten day mourning period where students have no school, everyone must wear black in public, the UK flags will be lowered, and shops are closed or have shortened hours.

“I felt sad when she died as I have always liked the Royal Family and seeing them on the TV,” British Citizen Kathy McDonald said. “I personally thought that the majority of the British public respected her and were proud to be British. Even though she always kept a stiff upper lip, like us Brits do. I always thought she came across as friendly and was a lovely grandparent to all her grandchildren.”

The outcry from people around the world was mostly in sympathy with the Brits who mourn the death of their beloved queen. However, there have been many on the opposite spectrum, which are celebrating because the Queen is gone, which are mainly the Irish and the Africans. This has created a mass controversy inside of Great Britain on whether to keep the monarchy alive or remove it because they aren’t making the substantially important decisions anymore and keeping the monarchy will make specific people enjoy certain benefits, while the rest will not.

“Opinion is divided in the UK.  To a lot of people in the UK, it means a great deal as Queen Elizabeth II reigned for 70 years and 214 days which is an awful long time – an end of an era.  During her reign, the UK also went through 15 different Prime Ministers,” McDonald said. “But there are also a growing number of people, in the minority I hope, who think that the Monarchy should be abolished as they say they are of no benefit to the UK and just fleece Joe public of their hard-earned money to line their pockets.”

The Queen was a huge pop culture icon in not just Britain, but all over the world as she was the longest lasting member in the very popular royal family. Every Christmas, the Queen would show herself to a huge crowd outside of Buckingham Palace and give a speech to the people of Britain, inspiring the people and giving them hope. Throughout all of the technological advancements, all of the changes that happened all over the world, for 70 years, the Queen of England has experienced it all and losing her is losing a link from the past to the present.

“It is a big deal as she was the leader of our country.  She was very respected, and things will no doubt change,” McDonald said. “We would always look forward to listening to the Queens Speech at 3 p.m. each year on Christmas Day, where she would talk about the year, and what she was planning for next year. It has been declared a Bank Holiday in the UK on the day of the Queens funeral.”

Despite all the controversy, there is a great change coming for Britain. With questions of climate change, leadership, healthcare, and economy being omnipresent problems that all British citizens must deal with, only time will tell if King Charles III has what it takes to maintain and elevate the standards set by the queen.