Queen Elizabeth II has passed away at the age of 96.

She was the longest-reigning British monarch and the longest-serving female head of state in history having been on the throne for 70 years.

Her death comes less than 18 months after that of her husband Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who died in April last year aged 99.

The Queen never visited Kenilworth itself during her reign, but did however open the Royal Show when it moved to Stoneleigh for the first time in 1963.

Having started as a travelling show in 1839, it found a permanent home at the National Agriculture Centre until it came to an end in 2009.

The annual show, which had visited Warwickshire four times before it came to reside there permanently, was held every year except for wartime, and when prevented by foot and mouth disease.

More than 100,000 people attended the 1963 instalment and the Queen visited Stoneleigh for the July event on a number of occasions over the next half century, including in 1972, 1989 and in 2002.

She also visited Coventry and other parts of Warwickshire a number of times during her reign.

In 1970 she attended the opening of Walsgrave Hospital and in November 1986 the reopened Swan Theatre in Stratford.

She was also taken on a tour of the Royal Priors in Leamington in March 1988 and visited again to open the Warwickshire Justice Centre in 2011.

The last photographs of the Queen released publicly were taken on Tuesday (6 September) at Balmoral where she accepted the resignation of then Prime Minister Boris Johnson and subsequently invited Liz Truss to form a government.

Following this, the Queen withdrew from an online meeting of the privy council on Wednesday after being advised by doctors to rest.

This morning, Buckingham Palace issued a statement saying the Queen was under medical supervision amid concerns from her doctors about her health.

Family members rushed to be by her side before it was confirmed this evening that she had passed away peacefully this afternoon.