Royal fans mourn Queen Elizabeth II’s death

Royal fans mourned Queen Elizabeth’s death Thursday as they crowded outside Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle to pay their respects to the long-serving monarch.

“She meant everything to me,” Londoner John Loughrey, 67, told The Post moments after the announcement was posted at the palace gates.

“We’ll never have one like her,” he said. “To say I’m heartbroken is an understatement. I’m so shocked — I can’t believe this,” he said.

Well-wishers had already ignored heavy rain to flock to the 96-year-old’s residences to drop off bouquets of flowers and tributes as soon as Buckingham Palace announced a serious deterioration in her health.

Hundreds were outside the palace at 6:30 p.m. London time when two royal aides fixed a formal statement to the railings announcing that “the Queen died peacefully at Balmoral.”

Just moments earlier, a stunning double rainbow shone over the palace gates — soon replaced by tears among mourners leaving bouquets.

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Spanish tourist Carla Fernandez, 32, headed to the palace on her very first day in London.

“We are not big fans of monarchy — but the queen is more than that,” she said.

Raja Patel, from Essex, said he was “scared this would happen soon” — but it still left him “absolutely devastated.”

He said there were “not enough flowers in the world for her. She was full of class.”

Queen Elizabeth, who was the UK’s longest serving monarch after assuming the throne in 1952, had called Buckingham Palace home for most of her record-breaking reign.

In her final years, the Queen had been living at Windsor Castle — her weekend home just outside London — where she had spent her last days with her late husband Prince Philip before he died in April 2021.

Her death Thursday came just two days after she was seen smiling broadly while confirming the appointment of new Prime Minister Liz Truss at Balmoral, the late queen’s Scottish residence..

However, the images sparked health concerns over deep blue bruising on her hand — and earlier Thursday the palace revealed that her doctors were “concerned for Her Majesty’s health.”

The 96-year-old monarch had cut back her public appearances in the months before her death because of ongoing mobility issues.

She had made only a few appearances during her four-day Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June, which marked her 70 years on the throne, and was seen clutching a walking stick at events that followed.

The Queen’s passing marks the beginning of an official 12-day mourning period across Great Britain.

Her funeral will take place at Westminster Abbey at the end of the mourning period.