MSU students with ties to United Kingdom react to Queen Elizabeth II’s death

LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - Michigan will be mourning the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.

Read: Queen Elizabeth II dead at 96 after 70 years on the throne

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer ordered flags to fly at half staff at all public buildings until sunset on the day of the Queen’s internment.

The Queen was the longest reigning monarch. She served more than 70 years on the throne.

Her Majesty never traveled to Mid-Michigan, but touched the lives of many people in the area.

News 10 caught up with a couple of students at Michigan State University with ties to Great Britain on Thursday. They said she served as an important role model.

Kamron Smith is an MSU freshman with whose great-grandmother moved from Wales when she was 6-years-old. Smith said he still has family living in Wales.

When asked what he would say to the Queen in her finals hours he said “I think I would say to her is that she has been an inspiration for so many little girls to become somebody to become powerful and that I hope she knows that she inspires the world and she leaves a mark on this world.”

Ellie McRobbie, who is now a senior at MSU, was born in England, and moved to the United States as a 1-year-old.

As for Ellie, the Queen’s is significant to her because the Queen was a woman in power.

”I think it’s really significant that she is a woman because a lot of the leaders have historically been men,” said McRobbie, “I think she is a role model to people and it’s really inspiring to see someone like her.”

The Queen’s eldest son is now King Charles III. At 73 he’s the oldest Royal ever to assume the British throne.

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