FILE - Britain's Queen Elizabeth II smiles while receiving the President of Switzerland Ignazio Cassis and his wife Paola Cassis during an audience at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, Thursday, April 28, 2022. Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and a rock of stability across much of a turbulent century, has died. She was 96. Buckingham Palace made the announcement in a statement on Thursday Sept. 8, 2022.(Dominic Lipinski/Pool Photo via AP, File)

Dominic Lipinski

While sympathetic Americans kept one eye on the telly on Thursday as news about Queen Elizabeth’s health grew more and more grim, a number of Brits living in Butler County are grieving the death of the only monarch they’ve ever known.

At about 1:30 p.m. EST, Buckingham Palace announced the queen, who reigned for 70 years, seven months and two days, had died at her beloved Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

Leigh Baxter of Winfield Township is a native of Bury St. Edmund, Suffolk, which is northeast of London.

Baxter, a dual citizen, has lived in the U.S. since 1989 and earned her citizenship four years ago.

“We’ve been really fortunate to have her,” Baxter said of the late queen. “It’s just like everyone you love and you cherish, you never want to see an ending.”

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