Another former U.S. president, Barack Obama, noted that she’d worked with 15 prime ministers “and countless foreign heads of state.”
“She listened deeply, thought strategically, and was responsible for considerable diplomatic achievements,” Obama said in a statement. “And yet, she wore her lofty titles with a light touch—as willing to act in a comic sketch for the London Olympics as she was to record steadying messages for the people of the U.K. during the Covid-19 lockdowns.”
Thank you Ma’am, for everything.
— Paddington (@paddingtonbear) September 8, 2022
In London, some theater shows canceled their evening productions, while the city’s famous Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew said it would be closed Friday. A planned strike by postal workers for Friday was called off as the U.K. heads into a 10-day mourning period. British television networks switched programming to tributes to the Queen.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, whose war-torn nation has benefited from significant British aid in its conflict with Russia, tweeted that his nation extended “sincere condolences to the @RoyalFamily, the entire United Kingdom and the Commonwealth over this irreparable loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.”
In Canada, a member of the British Commonwealth, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that “in a complicated world, her steady grace and resolve brought comfort and strength to us all.”
“She was one of my favorite people in the world, and I will miss her so,” Trudeau, the 12th Canadian leader to serve during her reign, said during a retreat with his cabinet members in Vancouver.
--With assistance from Frank Connelly, Jordan Fabian, Richard Bravo, Brian Platt, Elizabeth Fournier, Mark Niquette, Neil Callanan, Martine Paris and Rosalind Mathieson.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.