![\"Buckingham](\"https:\/\/c.ndtvimg.com\/2022-09\/mq48s9vo_queen-elizabeth-buckingham-palace-reuters_625x300_08_September_22.jpg\"\/ "\\"Buckingham")
<\/div>\nMany of the well-wishers, some carrying flowers, came from outside the UK.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
London: <\/b><\/p>\n
Tearful crowds outside Buckingham Palace sang a forlorn “God Save the Queen” as news broke of Elizabeth II’s death on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Hundreds braved torrential rain to stand at the palace gates after it was announced that doctors had placed the monarch under medical supervision at Balmoral, her Scottish estate.<\/p>\n
A vivid rainbow temporarily lifted spirits, but the mood turned mournful in the evening as the seismic news was announced, triggering widespread cries of “oh no”, according to AFP.<\/p>\n
Some wept as the Union Jack flag on the queen’s London residence was lowered, before a numbed silence fell over the crowd.<\/p>\n
“She’s been the queen for as long as I’ve been alive, she’s been the queen for as long as my parents have been alive,” currency broker Charlie Wolstenholme told AFP.<\/p>\n
“So she’s really a very, very important part of the fabric. You know, it’s going to be terrible.”<\/p>\n
Britain’s longest-serving monarch had been facing health problems since last October, which left her struggling to walk and stand.<\/p>\n
Many of the well-wishers, some carrying flowers, came from outside the UK.<\/p>\n
“As a French person, even I am touched by this,” said student Chloe Papeil.\u00a0 “She is a part of English culture, but also global culture.”<\/p>\n
The queen — an instantly recognisable figure to billions of people across the world — was in her Platinum Jubilee year, marking 70 years since she succeeded her father king George VI in 1952.<\/p>\n
News spread rapidly across a shellshocked country, with announcements in public spaces, including a train from London to Edinburgh.<\/p>\n
“I’m speechless, it’s very sad,” said lawyer Rory Turbet, 38, who was travelling on the train for a wedding.<\/p>\n
“A lot of British people will feel that way; she’s been a constant presence in people’s lives,” he told AFP.<\/p>\n
On the streets of London, animation producer Toni Cunningham told AFP: “I feel really sad, I feel like my nana (grandmother) has died. She did so much for this country, she was here so much for us.”
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(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n