The Queen dies: Senior royals swap social media photos for crests

Senior royals swap their smiling social media profile photos for official crests in a mark of respect to the Queen as the Royal Family website is taken down to allow for ‘appropriate changes’ to be made

  • Queen Elizabeth has died at the age of 96, Buckingham Palace announced today 
  • Death was announced after members of royal family rushed to Balmoral today 
  • The Royal Family replaced a smiling photo of Queen to the coat of arms
  • Meanwhile the website was updated with a statement to announce her death 

Mourning members of the Royal Family swapped their smiling social media profile photos to their official coats of arms today in a mark of respect to the Queen.

Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s longest reigning monarch who was on the throne for 70 years, has died at the age of 96, Buckingham Palace announced today.

Following the sad news, the Royal Family changed its social media profile image to the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom. 

Kensington Royal, the handle of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, also changed its image – which had shown the couple beaming at one another to their official royal coat of arms.

Clarence House also adopted its crest, the Prince of Wales’s feathers, to pay their respects, replacing an image of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles smiling in an official portrait released to mark Wales Week 2019.

Mourning members of the Royal Family swapped their smiling social media profile photos to their official coats of arms today in a mark of respect to the Queen (pictured, the image released of the monarch today on the announcement of her death) 

Following the sad news, the Royal Family changed its social media profile image – which had shown a jolly image of the Queen, pictured – to the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom

Kensington Royal, the handle of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, changed its image to the royal family’s official crest 

All three Instagram accounts shared the black and white image of the Queen released by the Palace today. 

Meanwhile the royal family’s website was updated with a statement this evening. 

It read: ‘The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London  tomorrow. 

‘The official website of the Royal Family is temporarily unavailable while appropriate changes are made.’  

Clarence House also adopted its crest, the Prince of Wales’s feathers, to pay their respects, replacing an image of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles smiling in an official portrait released to mark Wales Week 2019

The Queen’s family  had rushed to Balmoral after doctors became ‘concerned’ for her health. Hours later she died, surrounded by her family.

Her son Charles, the former Prince of Wales, is now King. He will address the shocked nation imminently, as the world grieves Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.

At 6.30pm her death was confirmed. A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: ‘The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon. The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow’.

The Queen’s death will see Britain and her Commonwealth realms enter into a ten-day period of mourning as millions of her subjects in the UK and abroad come to terms with her passing.

And as her son accedes to the throne, there will also be a celebration of her historic 70-year reign that saw her reach her Platinum Jubilee this year – a landmark unlikely to be reached again by a British monarch.

Tributes are already pouring in for Her Majesty, to many the greatest Briton in history and undoubtedly the most famous woman on earth. To billions around the world she was the very face of Britishness.

Meanwhile the royal family’s official website was also updated with a statement to reflect the Queen’s death 

To her subjects at home, Her Majesty was the nation’s anchor, holding firm no matter what storm she or her country was facing – from the uncertain aftermath of the Second World War to, more recently, the pandemic. She was also steadfast as she dealt with tragedies and scandals in her own family, most recently the fallout from Megxit and the death of her beloved husband Prince Philip.

Charles will embark on a tour of the UK before his mother’s funeral with his wife Camilla, who the Queen announced would be crowned her eldest son’s Queen Consort in an historic statement to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee and 70 years on the throne on February 6.

Her Majesty was photographed earlier this week. The monarch, who stood with the support of a stick and smiled as she greeted Ms Truss in front of a roaring fire, had not been seen in public for two months. It would be her final picture

The Queen’s passing came more than a year after that of her beloved husband Philip, her ‘strength and guide’, who died aged 99 in April 2021.

Since his funeral, where she poignantly sat alone because of lockdown restrictions, her own health faltered, and she was forced to miss an increasing number of events mainly due to ‘mobility problems’ and tiredness.

In July she travelled to Scotland for her annual summer break, but cancelled her traditional welcome to Balmoral Castle in favour of a small more private event because of her health, believed to be linked to her ability to stand. And at the end of July, Prince Charles represented his mother and opened the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham with the Duchess of Cornwall. In late August Queen missed the Braemar Gathering – the first time she was not at the Highland Games in her 70-year reign.

But she was well enough to meet with Boris Johnson at Balmoral to accept his resignation, before asking the 15th Prime Minister of her reign, Liz Truss, to form a Government. Her Majesty, who stood with the support of a stick and smiled as she greeted Ms Truss in front of a roaring fire, had not been seen in public for two months. It would be her final picture.   

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