Queen Elizabeth’s death certificate was released this week, which surprised me. In America, death certificates are public documents and anyone can access them. But surely it’s different in the UK, especially with royalty? I guess not. So, here’s QEII’s death certificate:
Occupation:
Her Majesty The Queen pic.twitter.com/4J8TCs9QLn— Peter Hunt (@_PeterHunt) September 29, 2022
She passed away at 3:10 pm, and they didn’t announce it until three hours later. I get that they had to inform the rest of the family before they announced it, but jeez, I really did believe that they were supposed to announce it faster than they did. Also: on a technical level, wasn’t her surname Mountbatten-Windsor? Wasn’t that decision made by QEII at some point? And yes, I guess we’re going with “old age” as the cause of death. It was the same with Prince Philip – the death certificate isn’t going into the nitty-gritty of exactly what was going on, even though several people said “cancer” for both Elizabeth and Philip.
Meanwhile, I read this story in the Telegraph and I found it slightly amusing. There are already people talking about the “need” to build monuments and statues for QEII, and one of the proposals is that a QEII statue should be erected on the “Fourth Plinth” in Trafalgar Square. The Fourth Plinth is where, for decades now, different artists have exhibited their public work. Originally, there was supposed to be a statue of William IV, but that never came to pass. Currently, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has used the space for a revolving door of exhibitions highlighting trans issues, anti-colonialism, racial justice. Well, Mayor Khan says that right now, he has zero plans to disrupt those pieces of public art just to erect a statue of Elizabeth. Funny, right? I wonder how many monuments and statues will go up in the next few years though.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
- Queen Elizabeth II cuts a cake to celebrate the start of the Platinum Jubilee during a reception in the Ballroom of Sandringham House, which is the Queen’s Norfolk residence. The Queen came to the throne 70 years ago this Sunday when, on February 6 1952, the ailing King George VI – who had lung cancer – died at Sandringham in the early hours.,Image: 659601877, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Joe Giddens / Avalon
- Queen Elizabeth II cuts a cake to celebrate the start of the Platinum Jubilee during a reception in the Ballroom of Sandringham House, which is the Queen’s Norfolk residence. The Queen came to the throne 70 years ago this Sunday when, on February 6 1952, the ailing King George VI – who had lung cancer – died at Sandringham in the early hours.,Image: 659602010, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Joe Giddens / Avalon
- Queen Elizabeth II leaves Sandringham House, which is the Queen’s Norfolk residence, after a reception with representatives from local community groups to celebrate the start of the Platinum Jubilee. The Queen came to the throne 70 years ago this Sunday when, on February 6 1952, the ailing King George VI – who had lung cancer – died at Sandringham in the early hours.,Image: 659635986, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Joe Giddens / Avalon
- Queen Elizabeth II during an audience with President of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis at Windsor Castle. Picture date: Thursday April 28, 2022.,Image: 686853114, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: NO UK USE FOR 48 HOURS- Fee Payable Upon reproduction – For queries contact Avalon [email protected] London 44 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles 1 310 822 0419 Berlin 49 30 76 212 251 Madrid 34 91 533 42 89, Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
- Queen Elizabeth II waits in the Drawing Room before receiving Liz Truss for an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government.,Image: 719993378, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Jane Barlow / Avalon
- Queen Elizabeth II waits in the Drawing Room before receiving Liz Truss for an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government.,Image: 719993385, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Jane Barlow / Avalon