Buckingham Palace has announced the death of her majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

In a statement, the palace said, the Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.

The King and the Queen consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London

tomorrow.

You're listening to newscast from BBC News.

Our royal correspondent, Nicholas Wichl, looks back at the Queen's life.

She wasn't born to be Queen, yet she became Britain's longest-lived and longest-raining

monarch.

Across the decades, a society changed fundamentally.

Elizabeth II was a constant and, for many, a reassuring symbol of national unity.

It was a life above all which was guided by her sense of duty, something she'd first

referred to in a broadcast at the age of 21.

I'd occur before you all that my whole life, whether it be long or short, shall be devoted

to your service and to the service of our great Imperial family to which we all belong.

Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born on 21 April 1926.

She was the first child of the then King's second son, the Duke of York.

Ten years later, Princess Elizabeth's life was transformed when her uncle, King Edward

the Eighth, abandoned the throne to marry the American Divorcee Wallace Simpson.

The throne passed to her father who became George VI.

The early years of George's reign were dominated by the Second World War.

Elizabeth was expected to play her part.

With her younger sister Margaret, Elizabeth broadcast a message to children evacuated overseas.

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