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The British Queen Mother, the 101-year-old mother of Queen Elizabeth, died in her sleep on Saturday with her daughter at her bedside. The announcement was made in an official statement issued by Buckingham Palace this evening.
"Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother had become increasingly frail in recent weeks following her bad cough and chest infection over Christmas," the statement read.
She died "peacefully in her sleep" this afternoon at Royal Lodge, Windsor, the palace said.
The Queen Mother's coffin is expected to be moved to the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor Great Park tomorrow morning.
Prince Charles, who is heir to the throne, and his two sons Prince William and Prince Harry, will return to Britain as soon as possible from a skiing holiday in the Swiss resort of Klosters.
The Queen Mother's death adds to a succession of domestic traumas suffered by the royal family in recent years, most recently the death on February 9 of her younger daughter, Princess Margaret at the age of 71.
Queen consort during World War Two, and companion of King George, who unexpectedly became the monarch after his brother Edward VIII abdicated in 1936 she was left a widow in 1952.
She became the matriarch of the royal House of Windsor and enjoyed a position as one of the more popular members of the royal family, her popularity undimmed by the scandals of the past two years affecting other royals.
A Scottish aristocrat, she married the then Duke of York in 1923. In her service to the crown as duchess, queen consort and dowager, she is credited with bringing the old imperial monarchy closer to the people.
Agencies