Mourners in the United Kingdom are paying their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth.
Crowds were gathering outside Buckingham Palace since the announcement was made Thursday that the queen was gravely ill. Londoners were seen huddled together outside the palace crying and laying flowers. Queen Elizabeth ruled the Commonwealth for over 70 years. She died Thursday at age 96 at her castle in Scotland.
Here across the pond, The London Bridge is lit up purple to honor the passing of Queen Elizabeth. The iconic bridge is now over five-thousand miles away from London in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, which bought the old bridge for seven-thousand dollars back in the 1960s. City officials say the bridge will be illuminated with purple lights through Saturday in honor of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.
There is a Wisconsin connection to royalty, too.
Though she never actually set foot in Milwaukee, Queen Elizabeth the Second — who died yesterday at the age of 96 — visited the area when she helped mark the opening of the Saint Lawrence Seaway in 1959.
She was aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia when it sailed by the Milwaukee lakefront on its way to Chicago. Six destroyers from three different nations escorted the royal yacht on its journey. Media reports at the time said Milwaukee and Chicago were the only cities in all of the Great Lakes the Queen visited. The queen reigned for seven decades and was England’s longest-serving monarch.
Her son — 73-year-old Prince Charles — takes over as king.
