What Buckingham Palace Looked Like on the Day the Queen Died

Crowds started gathering at Buckingham Palace, London, hours before the announcement came out: The Queen was dead. Then, at 6.30PM, the Union Jack flag on top of the palace was lowered to half-mast, and people’s phones began pinging and vibrating with news alerts. The longest-reigning monarch in British history had passed away at the age of 96, some 500 miles away in Balmoral.

As night fell, people climbed the Queen Victoria memorial – a monument built to commemorate another queen – and left flowers and candles outside the gates of the palace. Now the UK has a king for the first time in 70 years, brands are scrambling to post the most tonally appropriate message and world leaders are posting emotional missives about the one time they met Elizabeth II.

But long after the last ill-judged Hamilton tweet has been deleted and the QAnon frenzy dies down, the hundreds of people outside Buckingham Palace on Friday evening – the London royal residence and de facto administrative headquarters for the monarchy – will still always remember where they were when the news broke. VICE photographer Yushy was there to capture the moment and speak to some of the mourners.

Rachel Carter, 32, Essex

I have always been a royalist. We have all seen this coming but didn’t realise it was this fast – she was working right up until yesterday where she handed the PM[-ship] over to Liz Truss. [Ed note: Truss actually met the Queen on Tuesday.]

I worked this evening and managed to get it off – I just needed to get to the Palace. It’s a quite moving experience on this historical day. I’m just happy we have had such a great queen for so long.

Oli Skinner, 24, London

It’s a massive moment. When you think of the UK, you think of the Queen; when you think of London, England you think of the Queen and monarch. It’s a sad day but it’s been coming for ages – we need to get to the next stage and move on.

Qahir, 24, London

[She’s one of] the first people outside your family that you know. She’s the first person you are told about as a young child, almost like a grandma. It’s not just history – it’s a joint moment of mourning and sadness. She is a phenomenal woman.

Keith Sutton, 61, Kent

She’s been such a great servant to this country for 90-plus years. She’s done more for the UK than any other person in the world. No one can bad mouth her, she’s done her duty. There’s been no controversy against her – some of her family let her down but never her personally. She’s been a great servant to this country as far as i am concerned.

@_yushy