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1603: 420 years ago today, Queen Elizabeth I died in the palace of Richmond. She was in the 45th year of her reign (the third longest after Henry III and Edward III) and in her 70th year. At the time of her death she was the longest lived English monarch, a record she would keep for the next 150 years until surpassed in 1753 by George II (the first British monarch to reach the age of 70).