FILE – In this Tuesday, Nov 26, 2019 file photo, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II visits the new headquarters of the Royal Philatelic society in London. Britain is marking Queen Elizabeth II’s 94th birthday, Tuesday, April 21, 2020, with silence, as the nation in lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic forgoes the usual gun salutes and ringing of bells. With thousands dead, the monarch decided that the celebratory display of military firepower would not be “appropriate.’’ Nor will there be a celebratory peal of bells from Westminster Abbey, as the church where the queen was married and crowned is currently closed. (Tolga Akmen/Pool via AP, File)

By DANICA KIRKA, JILL LAWLESS and SYLVIA HUI Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — Buckingham Palace says Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, has XXXX. She was 96. Elizabeth spent more than seven decades on the throne as the U.K. rebuilt from war, lost an empire, transformed its economy and both entered and left the European Union. She was a constant presence, the only monarch most Britons have ever known, and she guided the institution of the monarchy through choppy waters. She likely met more people than anyone in history, and her image, which adorned stamps, coins and bank notes, was among the most reproduced in the world. But her inner life and opinions remained largely an enigma. The impact of her loss will be huge, and unpredictable.