(FILES) In this file photo taken on May 18, 2016 Britain's Queen Elizabeth II travels towards the Houses of Parliament in the Jubilee State Carriage as she prepares to attend the State Opening of Parliament in central London. - Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-serving monarch in British history and an icon instantly recognisable to billions of people around the world, has died aged 96, Buckingham Palace said on Thursday. Her eldest son, Charles, 73, succeeds as king immediately, according to centuries of protocol, beginning a new, less certain chapter for the royal family after the queen's record-breaking 70-year reign. (Photo by LEON NEAL / AFP)