On Sept. 8, Queen Elizabeth II’s reign ended after 70 years, the longest of any British monarch, leaving a question lingering in the minds of many all over the world: What happens next?

Thomas Hansen, international student and geography major, was shocked at the queen’s death—an overwhelming feeling in Britain at the moment.

“The Queen was naturally quite a large figure in everyone’s life in the United Kingdom. She had been the ruler for 70 years so the majority of the country had only ever known her as our ruler,” said Hansen. “Every year on Christmas day at 3 p.m., the country stopped and listened to her speech and throughout the recent pandemic and internal social issues, she has been a calming and level-headed figure for the country to see and learn from.”

Although Her Majesty’s position has been filled by her son, King Charles III, this does not serve as an answer for the political turbulence that has been ongoing, and has now been exasperated by Elizabeth’s passing.

“This is a singularly bad time for this to have happened because the situation in Britain is very turbulent,” said Dr. Jonathan Kuiken, associate professor of history, global cultures and honors director. “They just got a new prime minister on Tuesday [Sept. 6] and she is not wildly popular in her own party or the country. So, we’ve already got a kind of political crisis. The war in Ukraine is driving up energy prices in the UK tremendously and people are really concerned that they won’t be able to heat their homes this winter as well.”

Kuiken goes on to explain what may happen within Commonwealth countries now that the queen has passed, finding it possible for those countries to end their association with the British monarchy as their head of state. Just last year, Barbados became a republic, and many other countries, such as Jamaica, have been talking about it but, as Kuiken states, believe they haven’t done it out partly out of respect for the queen.

However, her death opens up the possibility perhaps that we may even see the end of the monarchy in Britain itself, but a stronghold on tradition will most likely keep it in place.

Due to an extended grieving process when a monarch dies, Charles remains only king in name. However, going forward in his reign and coronation in a few months, Kuiken suspects him to lie low due to his unpopularity and the current state of Britain.

“I would not be shocked if the coronation is a much more stayed affair than his mother’s coronation which was filled with pomp and splendor,” said Kuiken. “Charles knows that he is pretty unpopular and I think he’s going to do his best to not be in the limelight a lot or if he is in the limelight, for things that are good rather than bad. Even William’s reputation has kind of taken a hit recently. It’s a really unsettled time for Britain.”

The late queen’s funeral took place Sept. 19 in the Westminster Abbey where she was married and coronated 70 years ago. Some 2,000 guests have gathered to honor her with the service having been led by Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. During her ceremony, other invited individuals also received recognition for their honored valor during her lifetime, like health workers who were praised during the pandemic.

Several smaller ceremonies occurred throughout the day, including a smaller service inside the Windsor Chapel where physical representations of her rule were removed from atop her coffin and a final familial service to lay her body to rest beside her husband, Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh, who died last year at the age of 99.