Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II who spent more than seven decades supporting her, has died, Buckingham Palace said Friday. He was 99.

His life spanned nearly a century of European history, starting with his birth as a member of the Greek royal family and ending as Britain’s longest serving consort during a turbulent reign in which the thousand-year-old monarchy was forced to reinvent itself for the 21st century.

President Joe Biden put on a modest White House ceremony Thursday to announce a half-dozen executive actions to combat what he called an “epidemic and an international embarrassment” of gun violence in the United States.

Biden’s new steps include a move to crack down on “ghost guns,” homemade firearms that lack serial numbers used to trace them and are often purchased without a background check. He’s also moving to tighten regulations on pistol-stabilizing braces like the one used in Boulder, Colorado, in a shooting last month that left 10 dead.

The president’s actions delivered on a pledge he made last month to take what he termed immediate “common-sense steps” to address gun violence, after a series of mass shootings drew renewed attention to the issue. His announcement came the day after yet another episode, this one in South Carolina, where five people were killed.

Minnesota health officials reported 2,500 new infections on Thursday as more infectious variants of the coronavirus drive case growth across the state. The new cases mark the highest single-day total since January as the state was coming down from the surge in infections cases late last year.

Health officials have expressed concern regarding the steady rise in cases and hospitalizations, citing a growing seven-day test positivity rate that indicates community transmission of the virus.

Connor Steil can be reached at stei6305@stthomas.edu.