The death of the Queen: How the world's biggest news story rocked 2022

The State Gun Carriage carries the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre, as it leaves Westminster Hall for the State Funeral at Westminster Abbey

King Charles III, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York and the Earl of Wessex walk behind the coffin as it moves to Westminster Abbey

The State Gun Carriage carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II

Members of the clergy wait for the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II to arrive at Westminster Abbey

King Charles III salutes the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II as it is carried into Westminster Abbey

King Charles III and the Queen Consort in front of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II during her State Funeral

(front row) King Charles III, the Queen Consort, the Princess Royal, Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the Duke of York, the Earl of Wessex, the Countess of Wessex, (second row) the Duke of Sussex, the Duchess of Sussex, Princess Beatrice, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and Lady Louise Windsor, and (third row) Samuel Chatto, Arthur Chatto, Lady Sarah Chatto and Daniel Chatto in front of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II

Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby speaking during the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II

An aerial view of The Queen's coffin as the procession after Her Majesty's funeral makes its way through London

Her Majesty The Queen's coffin during the procession after her funeral in London

The Queen's coffin being pulled along The Mall during the procession after Her Majesty's funeral

Buckingham Palace staff pay their respects as the Queen's coffin and procession pass by following Her Majesty's funeral

The State Gun Carriage carries the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard with the Imperial State Crown and the Sovereign's orb and sceptre, in the Ceremonial Procession following her State Funeral at Westminster Abbey.

The Royal family watch as the funeral procession reaches Wellington Arch and Queen Elizabeth II's coffin is transferred from the gun carriage to the state hearse

The Queen's coffin reaches Wellington Arch ahead of the journey to Windsor

The funeral moves to Windsor

The Queen's coffin and funeral procession arriving at Windsor

Crowds gather by the famous Long Walk at Windsor for The Queen's funeral procession

King Charles lll leads The Queen's funeral procession as it arrives at Windsor

The Queen's fell pony, Emma, standing by Her Majesty's funeral procession as it arrives at Windsor

The Royal family at the Queen's Committal service at St George's chapel in Windsor

Arriving at the funeral

Prince George enters Westminster Abbey

The Queen consort, Princess of Wales, Prince George and Princess Charlotte arrive at Queen Elizabeth's funeral

Funeral Guests

Former Prime Ministers, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, arrive at Westminster Abbey ahead of The Queen's funeral.

Prime Minister Liz Truss arriving at Westminster Abbey for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth ll

US President Joe Biden walks through Westminster Abbey to take his seat at The Queen's funeral.

The Dean of Westminster, David Hoyle, greets US President Joe Biden and Jill Biden ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife arriving at Westminster Abbey for The Queen's funeral

Guests begin to arrive for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, held at Westminster Abbey in London.

Ahead of the Funeral

A quiet and still Buckingham Palace ahead of Her Majesty The Queen's state funeral in London

Guests arriving and taking their seats at Westminster Abbey ahead of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II.

Crowds gathering in central London ahead of the funeral of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth ll

Police officers in central London ahead of the funeral of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth ll

Orders of Service on seats ahead of the funeral of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, at Westminster Abbey

Before the funeral

On the eve of her funeral, the royal family released a previously unseen photo of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth ll, that was taken to mark the Monarch's Platinum Jubilee.

Before the funeral the Queen lay in state in Westminster Hall. Thousand of people queued day and night to walk past the coffin and pay their respects.
King Charles, The Princess Royal, The Duke of York and The Earl of Wessex stood vigil around the coffin for a spell on on of the days.

On Saturday 17th September, The Queen's grandchildren, led by Prince William, held a vigil around their grandmother's coffin during her lying-in-state at Westminster Hall.

On Friday 16th September, King Charles lll led a vigil of The Queen's children around their mother's coffin lying-in-state at Westminster Hall

Queen Elizabeth II

There can be little doubt the biggest story of 2022 was the loss of the UK's longest-serving monarch, her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Royal family confirmed the sad news on the evening of 8th September.
Huge numbers of tributes were paid to the late Queen as the country entered into a period of mourning. The new King paid tribute to his 'dear mama' in his first specch as monarch.

Queen Elizabeth II's coffin, draped in the Royal Standard, was carried on a horse-drawn gun carriage during the ceremonial procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, London, where Her Majesty lay in state.

As the Queen died at Balmoral in Scotland, her coffin had to be brought back to London, with the RAF flying her back.

After her death, the Queen lay at rest in St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh for a day so that people could pay their respects.
King Charles and his siblings stood vigil in the Cathedral.

Queen Elizabeth II

There can be little doubt the biggest story of 2022 was the loss of the UK's longest-serving monarch, her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Royal family confirmed the sad news on the evening of 8th September.
Huge numbers of tributes were paid to the late Queen as the country entered into a period of mourning. The new King paid tribute to his 'dear mama' in his first specch as monarch.

The country mourned the death of her Majesty as the new King paid tribute to his 'dear mama'.
After lying in state, Queen Elizabeth II was laid to rest after a funeral at Westminster Abbey

The ending of Covid restrictions

In many ways, it seems like a lifetime ago, but at the beginning of 2022 we were facing a new wave of Covid, thanks to the Omicron variant and some Covid restrictions were still in place. Boris Johnson's 'Plan B' was eased mid-January and by April the Covid self-isolation rules were removed in England.

Partygate

Covid restrictions may have been lifted in 2022, but they were very much in place when Boris Johnson and others attended gatherings at Downing Street in what became known as Partygate. Downing Street admitted two parties, one which took place the day before the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral and it eventually came out that there had even been a brief birthday gathering for Boris Johnson.


The then Prime Minister (you can probably see where this is going) was fined along with (spoiler alert) future Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for breaking Covid rules.

It was the start of the end for Boris Johnson's time as Prime Minister though. He won a confidence vote in June, but suffered a significant rebellion.
The Conservatives lost two byelections but it was the resignations of many cabinet members, including both Rishi Sunak and Sajid Javid which really spelled the end for Mr Johnson.
Eventually in July Boris Johnson agreed he would step down as Prime Minister.

The Oscars slap

Away from politics, the world (along with Chris Rock) was stunned when Will Smith slapped him while he was presenting at the Oscars in March.
53-year-old Smith stormed on stage just moments before picking up best actor for King Richard, after Chris Rock made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head. She has previously spoken about a diagnosis of alopecia.

The UK didn't quite win Eurovision

In May it was Eurovision, let's face it, the UK does not generally have high hopes for the competition, but this year was a bit different - people seemed to like the UK entry sung by Sam Ryder, who is himself almost impossible to dislike.
Space Man was the most succesful UK entry since 1997, coming top of the Jury vote, but losing out in the public vote to Ukraine.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe returns home

March saw the resolution of a story that took six years to come to an end. British-Iranian mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe arrived in the UK after being released from a six-year ordeal in Iran where she was imprisoned for being a spy.
The 43-year-old was allowed to leave with a second dual national Anoosheh Ashoori, after the UK paid a £400 million debt to Iran.

War in Ukraine

In February Russia began its aggression in Ukraine, which led to war, Ukraine's territory being taken and most of the world condemning President Putin's actions.

Cost of Living Crisis

The cost of living crisis has never been far from the headlines this year, there were signs inflation was rising early on as supermarket prices went up and partly as a result of the Ukraine conflict, energy prices went up in April and again in October

The many Prime Ministers of 2022

At one point in 2022 we'd had three Prime Ministers within two months. Boris Johnson stepped down which triggered a party election which Liz Truss won, becoming Prime Minister on the 6th September.
It didn't go very well for Ms Truss, her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng unveiled a mini-budget which was a lot more radical than many expected, shocking MPs, the public and spooking the markets.

Despite reversing the mini-budget decisions and sacking her Chancellor, Liz Truss couldn't hang on and resigned in October, making her the shortest-serving Prime Minster in UK history, lasting just 50 days in office.

And so we moved on to our third Prime Minister of 2022 Rishi Sunak who also became the first to be invited to form a government by the new King.

Lionesses win the Euros

England's women did the country proud in May after winning Euro 2022, beating Germany 2-1 after extra time in the final.


England brought it home and won their first major trophy in women's football.

Dame Deborah James dies

On the 28th June 2022 it was announced that Dame Deborah had sadly passed away at the age of 40, after losing her battle with terminal bowel cancer. Her campaigning work raised over £7 million for her Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK.

The Queen's Platinum Jubilee

Before the Queen's death, she celebrated a huge milestone, becoming the first UK monarch to reign for 70 years. The Platinum Jubilee was celebrated over a four day weekend in June including concerts, beacons, street parties and even a very special lunch with Paddington Bear.

Archie Battersbee's family fight

After a long legal fight and many appeals, Archie Battersbee's life support was switched off in August.
The 12-year-old had been in a coma since he was found unconscious by his mother in April.

The death of 9-year-old Oliva Pratt-Korbel

In August there was a story that shocked everyone as Olivia Pratt-Korbel was killed in her own home by a stranger in Liverpool.

The Wagatha case

It was the court case that had many of us hooked. Coleen Rooney and Rebekah Vardy were in court over libel claims.
It all started on Instagram and eventually ended up in the High Court with Judge Mrs Justice Steyn ruling in June in favour of Coleen Rooney. It was so dramatic that it's been turned into a TV drama!

The Commonwealth Games

For 11 days in July, the world watched as the Commonwealth Games came to Birmingham. There were gold medals, fantastic ceremonies and a huge mechanical bull!

Monkeypox

After the nightmare of Covid, everyone was very wary when cases of Monkeypox started increasing in May. Whilst cases increased massively compared to previous years, it didn't have as wide-reaching an impact as Covid

Qatar World Cup 2022

The first ever Winter World Cup was held in Qatar in 2022. Argentina were the winners. England were knocked out in the quarter-finals by France while Wales didn't make it out of the group stage.