Condolences poured in from around the world following the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.
Saudi Arabia's King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have offered their condolences over the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II.
Statements carried early Friday in Saudi state media quoted King Salman as saying that Queen Elizabeth was “a model of leadership that will be immortalized in the history.”
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the Queen was “an example of wisdom, love and peace.”
He added: “The world remembers today the great impact and deeds that she had throughout her reign.”
UAE leaders also extended condolences over death of the Queen.
UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has sent a message of condolences to King Charles III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. Also, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, sent similar message to King Charles.
Also, flags in the public and private sectors and in the country's embassies abroad will lower to half-mast, starting Friday, for a period of three days to mourn her death.
For his part, Kuwait's Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah sent a cable of condolences to King Charles, expressing his deep sorrow and sincere sentiments over the demise of Queen Elizabeth II.
Sheikh Ahmad praised her role in bolstering historic ties and exceptional relations between the two countries and extending his condolences to the British royal family and to the people of Great Britain during this difficult time.
French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the queen’s “immutable moral authority,” her intimate knowledge of and the stability she brought “across the fluctuations and upheavals of politics, a permanence with the scent of eternity.”
US President Joe Biden called the queen the first British monarch to make a personal connection with people around the world, as he ordered flags at the White House and government buildings flown at half-staff in her honor.
"Queen Elizabeth II was a stateswoman of unmatched dignity and constancy who deepened the bedrock alliance between the United Kingdom and the United States. She helped make our relationship special," he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to King Charles III, wishing the new monarch "courage and resilience" after his mother's passing -- even as Britain leads the West in imposing sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol tweeted their condolences, and Malaysia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Saifuddin Abdullah mourned the queen on Facebook as “a towering figure" dedicated to serving the people of the UK and the Commonwealth.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese mourned Queen Elizabeth II as the only only reigning monarch most Australians have known and the only one to ever to visit their country.
Also, Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed condolences to the British royal family over the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
He noted in the statement Friday that Elizabeth was the first British monarch to visit China, which she did in 1986. "Her death is a great loss to the British people.”
-Charles becomes King
Charles, the oldest person to ever assume the British throne, became King Charles III on Thursday following the death of the Queen. No date has been set for his coronation.
After an apprenticeship that began as a child, Charles embodies the modernization of the British monarchy. He was the first heir not educated at home, the first to earn a university degree and the first to grow up in the ever-intensifying glare of the media as deference to royalty faded.
“I always wonder what meddling is, I always thought it was motivating,” he said in “Prince, Son and Heir: Charles at 70,” a 2018 documentary. “I’ve always been intrigued if it’s meddling to worry about the inner cities, as I did 40 years ago and what was happening or not happening there, the conditions in which people were living. If that’s meddling, I’m very proud of it.”
In the same interview, however, Charles acknowledged that as king, he wouldn’t be able to speak out or interfere in politics because the role of sovereign is different from being the Prince of Wales.
Charles has said he intends to reduce the number of working royals, cut expenses and better represent modern Britain.
He will be the head of state for the UK and 14 other countries, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
-Elizabeth II: Strife and Family Life
As queen, Elizabeth II's family life was far from traditional -- she was often away for long stretches, was frequently occupied by work and had at times complicated relationships with her four children.
She was 22 and still a princess when her eldest son and heir apparent, Charles, was born, and 24 when Princess Anne came along.
But she sometimes left them for months at a time to join her husband Prince Philip, a naval officer stationed in Malta, or to tour with him abroad.
The young children stayed at home with their nannies and governesses, just as she had done as a child in the late 1920s and 1930s.
Charles's nanny was "very authoritarian", said the new king's biographer, royal author Penny Junor.
"Elizabeth was a young, new mother and this very experienced nanny took over... she waited for the nanny to bring Charles to her for half an hour at tea time or whatever it was," she told AFP.
"I'm sure she loved her family. But I don't think she was demonstrative in her affection."
Old family photos and videos show Elizabeth smiling, posing with Charles in his pram, or as a family, waving a rattle at Prince Andrew, who was born when Charles was 11.
But there is little to hide what appears to be stiff formality.
- 'Detached' not 'indifferent'
When five-year-old Charles saw his parents for the first time in months after they returned from a months-long tour of the Commonwealth, she offered him her hand.
In a later authorized biography, Charles would say his mother was "not indifferent so much as detached".
In contrast, Elizabeth, known for her love of horses and corgis, was closer to her daughter, Anne, who developed into a skilled horsewoman, allowing the pair to share their passion.
Strict royal protocol did not help foster closer bonds.
With Andrew and Edward, who were born when she was 33 and 37, the queen had a more relaxed relationship.
All four children were sent to boarding school at an early age.
- Splits and remarriage
Family life provided the biggest shocks during her record-breaking reign.
In 1992, Anne divorced her husband Mark Phillips, Charles split from Diana, and Andrew separated from Sarah Ferguson.
After Diana's death in 1997, the queen initially rejected the idea that Charles would marry Camilla Parker Bowles.
She did not attend their civil wedding in Windsor in 2005 but did organize a reception at the castle.
Asked about Charles' criticism of their mother, Anne said: "I don't believe any of us for a second thought that she didn't care for us in exactly the same way as any other mother did.
"I just think it extraordinary that anybody could construe that that might not be true," she told the BBC.
- Grandmother, great-grandmother
Separations and divorces were not the end of family strife.
In 2019, Andrew -- reportedly her favorite -- was forced to step back from frontline royal duties because of his friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The following year, grandson Harry and his wife Meghan quit royal life and moved to the United States, from where they criticized the family, including accusing some members of racism.
Elizabeth met the couple's daughter, Lilibet, only once. She was born in June 2021 and was named after her childhood nickname.
Eight times a grandmother, and with 12 great-grandchildren, the queen loved family dinners, and held annual Christmas get-togethers at her Sandringham estate.
Even as she slowed down after a health scare in October 2021, she attended the christening of two of her great-grandchildren at Windsor.
Grandson William, whom she had grown close to after Diana's death, paid a glowing tribute to her in a recent biography.
"The queen's kindness and sense of humor, her innate sense of calm and perspective, and her love of family and home are all attributes I experience first-hand," he wrote.
"I am privileged to have the queen as a model for a life of service to the public."
