Today’s news summary – Paper Talk
All UK newspapers led with the death of Britain’s longest-serving monarch Queen Elizabeth II. The Monarch died on Thursday afternoon at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.
Tributes from around the world have rolled in, from world leaders to sporting stars and celebrities and the British public.
Queen Elizabeth II 1926-2022
The Guardian leads with a striking image of a newly-crowned monarch with only her name and dates of her reign on the front page. The paper notes that her reign saw some of the greatest changes in the industrial, economic, technical and social development of any era. The paper says it’s hard to see her name bestowed – like Queen Victoria’s was to the Victorians as the “defining symbol of an age.”
The Times, the i newspaper and the Daily Star use the same image from the Queen’s 1953 coronation.
The Times adds the words “A life in service” and its back cover carries a quote from the Queen’s 1957 Christmas broadcast: “I cannot lead you into battle. I do not give you laws or administer justice but I can do something else: I can give you my heart and my devotion to all these old islands, and to all the peoples of our brotherhood of nations.” Whilst the paper’s lead says “history will deliver its verdict in the fullness of time but it is hard to conceive of her being remembered as anything other than one of the greatest monarchs in our history”.
The Sun points to how different the world was when she came to the throne – just seven years after WW2. The paper’s front page uses a black and white portrait of the Queen with the headline: “We loved you ma’am.”
The Daily Express declares: “Our beloved Queen is dead” on its front page. The paper says some question the institution on monarchy but most could admire how she “harnessed the grandeur of the Crown to elevate the country’s unsung heroes”.
The Daily Star’s editorial says: : “You may have noticed that we are traditionally not a royalist newspaper and there are plenty in the family we’re not so fond of. But you couldn’t help admire how the Queen did her duty, got on with her job and never complained.”
The Daily Mirror’s headline reads: “Thank you”. The paper’s Paul Routledge remembers the joy of the Queen’s coronation, with bunting across houses and food that had just stopped being rationed.
The FT dedicates its front page to an image of a smiling Queen. It describes her death as a “watershed moment in the life of the nation.”