JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — All eyes are on the Royal Family tonight after Queen Elizabeth ll’s passing.
The monarch was 96 years old.
The loss is being felt here in Northeast Florida, just as it is overseas and across the world.
”It’s your mum. The queen died. Talk to you later. Bye-bye,” Carole Lytell said in a tearful voicemail to her daughter Thursday, after the news of the queen’s passing.
Lytell spoke with Action News Jax Thursday.
”I grew up with her. I went to school, I just saw her the one time – she wasn’t queen, she was a princess when she came down to my hometown,” Lytell said of the late queen.
Queen Elizabeth served as queen for more than 70 years, Britain’s longest reigning monarch.”I brought this back from England with me,” Lytell said, showing a 1953 mug with a picture of Queen Elizabeth on it.
A quick look around Lytell’s home, and it’s evident -- she is fond of her homeland.
Lytell always found Americans’ fascination with the Royals fascinating herself.
”You go to the store, and everybody says, ‘oh, I like your accent!’ Even now they ask me where I’m from,” she said.
“I think they like the telly. My daughter actually loved Downton Abbey... Watching the English programs.”Those include British shows like Downton Abbey, Outlander, and the Crown, which People Magazine reports Netflix paused after the queen’s passing.
Lytell also credits the UK’s rich history with feeding people’s fascination with British culture.
Other local Floridians originally from the UK are also feeling the queen’s loss.”We knew it was going to happen at some stage, but we were hoping that she would stay forever because she’s been such a wonderful woman,” Ann Dyke said.
Elaine Frew, adding, “She was ours. Any time that there was any celebration, everybody just came together, and that was due to her, just her personality, and the way that she was she was so well-loved.
“With Queen Elizabeth’s death ending an era, it’s no doubt England and the world will expect consistent leadership from King Charles. Lytell hopes he will follow in his mother’s footsteps.
”She’s always been very, very nice. She’s taken care of all of the different places that she ran,” Lytell recalled.
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