Queen Elizabeth II, Longest-Reigning British Monarch, Dead at 96

PHOTO: Queen Elizabeth II arrives to mark the completion of London's Crossrail project at Paddington Station on May 17, 2022, in London.

LONDON, ENGLAND- Queen Elizabeth II has died at the age of 96, the royal family announced Thursday. Her majesty was placed under medical supervision at Balmoral Castle earlier.

Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest-reigning monarch who served as the beloved face of her country and source of strength for seven decades, died Thursday at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

She was 96.

Elizabeth's doctors said earlier Thursday that they were "concerned for Her Majesty’s health" and that she was "resting comfortably" at Balmoral under medical supervision.

The royal was preceded in death by her husband, Prince Philip, who spent more than seven decades supporting the queen.

The Duke of Edinburgh, Britain’s longest-serving consort, died in April 2021 at age 99. Elizabeth and Philip were married for more than 70 years and had four children: Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

From the small, curly-haired girl known to her family as "Lilibet" to the gracious, bespectacled great-grandmother who favored broad-brimmed hats, deliberate bright fashion and sensible shoes, the queen was always a favorite with her subjects both at home and in her many visits to Commonwealth nations around the world.

PHOTO: Britain's Queen Elizabeth II waits in the Drawing Room before receiving Liz Truss for an audience at Balmoral, in Scotland, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022.

Her "walkabouts" in which she stopped to shake hands and briefly chat with members of the public seemed to reinforce her one-time comment, "I have to be seen to be believed."

But appearing in public didn't mean her audience necessarily knew everything about her. The queen's personal life was never mined by the media in the way that those of American presidents tend to be.

Among the things that were well known: the queen loved corgis (she reportedly owned more than 30 during her life) and thoroughbred horses, supposedly enjoyed a gin with Dubonnet, and was interested in Scottish country dancing and walking in the countryside.

Other reports said she enjoyed a jigsaw puzzle and in 2011, there were multiple stories that she'd ordered an iPad for herself after grandsons Prince William and Prince Harry showed her theirs.

All in all, not a wealth of personal information about someone who had been a reassuring part of her subjects' lives for so long.

But if she appeared smiling and cheerful in public, the queen also encountered her share of adversity – from wars to the divorces of three of her four children, the 1997 death of her glamorous daughter-in-law, Princess Diana, and the 1992 fire that severely damaged Windsor Castle, one of her official residences. The constant throughout her life appeared to be a sense of duty and self-discipline.

(Fox News)