Junior Thomas Dupree was in Language Arts class when he heard the news. 

After 70 years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor II passed away at Balmoral Castle, the home of the British Royal family. 

“I hadn’t heard anything about her being sick,” said Dupree, who moved here in 2015 after being born and raised there. “I guess she went into hospital earlier that day, but it was a pretty big surprise,” he said. 

Dupree said after moving away, his family became less patriotic, but the Queen’s passing still shocked him and his family. 

The British monarchy has stood for hundreds of years, representing the strength and constancy of the United Kingdom, reinforced by the Queen’s lifelong reign. Her positive influence and example impacted many in her nation, and the loss of her rule has been deeply felt by people across the globe. 

One of those people, was Lauren Williams, language arts teacher. Williams lived in South Kensington in London for about five months as a part of a study abroad program under the Imperial College of London. 

“It wasn’t a huge shock, but it was still sad,” Williams said. “When I lived there, I saw her in person when she was opening the opera house, and she waved at me— I like to think.”

Contrary to a lot of people’s deep sorrow and mourning for the late Queen, AP History teacher and department chair Scott Szevery had a much more removed approach. 

“Not to speak ill of the recently deceased, but didn’t America fight a revolution so that we don’t have to care about or pay attention to the English monarchy?” Szevery said. 

While he recognizes the global impact the monarchy and its rule has had and the alliances it fostered in the West, he acknowledges that much of the royal family’s rule is symbolic and has waned as democratic institutions became more powerful and influential. 

“Anyone concerned about [America and the UK’s] relationship should be paying much more attention to the new Prime Minister Liz Truss than to King Charles III,” he said.