The following is a list of last occurrences. It can consist of last events, such as the last sending of a Western Union telegram; the last monarch of a monarchy (by either death or abdication); or the death of the last member of a group of people.
12 June - The last analogue TV broadcast in the United States for full-power stations only is made.[10] "Low-power", "Class A" and "translator" analogue stations may continue broadcasting and there is "no deadline for them to turn off their analog signals".[11]
2019
1 October - Tokyo Telemessage, Japan's last surviving pager provider, ends service.[12]
Disasters
1845
February - John Harrison, sailmaker, last survivor of the sinking of the East Indiaman Halsewell in 1786, dies at the age of 92.[13]
1850
2 October - James Ingram, last survivor of the sinking of HMS Royal George at Spithead in 1782, dies at the age of 98.[14]
4 July - Peter Stoddart, last known survivor of the Quintinshill rail disaster on 22 May 1915, the worst rail disaster in British history (as a soldier in the Royal Scots, he was aboard the troop train), dies at the age of c. 92.
1995
15 May - Grace Hannagan Martyn, last survivor of the sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland, dies at the age of 88.
2001
18 April - Michel Marcel Navratil, last male survivor and last French survivor of the sinking of RMS Titanic, dies at the age of 92.
7 May - Lillian Asplund, last American survivor of the sinking of RMS Titanic and last survivor to have memories of the event, dies at the age of 99.[16]
27 April - Yuri Yefimovich Yudin, only surviving member of the hiking expedition otherwise wiped out in the 1959 Dyatlov Pass incident in Russia, dies at the age of 75.
Jeff Edwards is the last surviving child to have been rescued from the ruins of Pantglas Junior School following the Aberfan disaster on 21 October 1966.[19]
26 April - May McAvoy, last surviving credited adult cast member of the first talking picture The Jazz Singer, dies at the age of 84.
14 September - Janet Gaynor, last surviving recipient of (and nominee for) an individual award at the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929, dies at the age of 77.
1989
26 April - Lucille Ball, last remaining core cast member of I Love Lucy, dies at the age of 77.
6 December - Nicholas Smith, last surviving regular cast member from the pilot (1972) and series 1–7 (1973–1979) of the British TV sitcom Are You Being Served? and last to appear in every episode, dies at the age of 81.
2016
1 May - Madeleine Lebeau, last surviving credited cast member of the 1942 film Casablanca, dies at the age of 92.
24 May - Jerry Maren, last surviving actor to play a Munchkin and last surviving actor to have a speaking or singing role in The Wizard of Oz, dies at the age of 98.
7 September - Marsha Hunt, last surviving American entertainment industry figure named as an alleged communist in the 1950 pamphlet Red Channels,[24] dies at the age of 104.
7 November - Leslie Phillips, last surviving British credited cast member of the 1962 film The Longest Day, dies at the age of 98.
20 November - Mickey Kuhn, last surviving credited cast member of the 1939 film Gone with the Wind, dies at the age of 90.
2023
27 January - Sylvia Syms, last surviving credited cast member of the 1958 film Ice Cold in Alex, dies at the age of 89.
13 February - Zia Mohyeddin, last surviving adult credited cast member of the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia, dies at the age of 91.
2024
2 February - Ian Lavender, last surviving regular cast member of the British TV sitcom Dad's Army, dies at the age of 77.
7 February - Henry Fambrough, last surviving original member of American group The Spinners, dies at the age of 85.
Jessica Benton (who played Elizabeth Onedin) and Laura Hartong (who played Charlotte Onedin) are the last surviving main cast members of the BBC TV drama series The Onedin Line. Benton is the last surviving main cast member from the first series in 1971.
26 August - Second Lieutenant Wallace Launcelot Andrews is the last person to win the Empire Gallantry Medal before its replacement with the George Cross.
1942
10 November - Surgeon Lieutenant Malcolm Joseph Clow is the last person to win the Albert Medal in Gold before its replacement with the George Cross and to survive the action.
13 November - Victor Crimp, Constable Nicholas Harvey, Detective Paul Knox, Constable Terry Van Turnhout, and Senior Constable David Weir are the last New Zealanders to win the Queen's Gallantry Medal before its replacement with the New Zealand Bravery Decoration.
March - Acting Petty Officer (Diver) Richard Peake and Acting Petty Officer (Diver) Richard Seabrook are the last people to win the British Distinguished Service Medal before it is replaced by the Distinguished Service Cross.
1992
25 October - Petty Officer Aircrewman Adrian Rogers is the last person to win the Air Force Medal before it is replaced by the Air Force Cross.
25 December - Arthur Mortimer, last surviving recipient of the Military Cross in World War I, dies at the age of 102.
2004
27 January - James Lovell, last surviving recipient of the Military Medal in World War I and last surviving British veteran to have been decorated in World War I, dies at the age of 104.
24 September - Stephen Simmons is the last person to be executed by Michigan, the first jurisdiction in the English-speaking world to abolish capital punishment.
29 April - Mary Timney, 27, is the last woman to be publicly hanged in Scotland, in Dumfries, after being convicted (possibly wrongly) of murdering her neighbour.[27]
Unknown date - Robert Smith, 19, convicted of murder, rape, robbery and attempted murder, is the last person to be publicly hanged in Scotland, in Dumfries.[28]
15 February - William Murphy is the last person to be hanged in North Wales, for the murder of his common-law wife Gwen Jones in Holyhead on 25 December 1909.[30]
27 December - Boris Gudz, last surviving member of the Cheka, dies at the age of 104.
2018
26 July - The last six members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult still on death row after being convicted of murder for the Tokyo subway sarin attack on 20 March 1995 are executed in Japan.[40]
7 May - The last German military signal is decoded by Bletchley Park; transmitted by a Lieutenant Kunkel at Cuxhaven at 7.35am, it reads "Closing down forever - all the best - goodbye."[55]
31 December - Pleasant Crump, last authenticated surviving Confederate veteran of the American Civil War and last witness of the Confederate surrender, dies at the age of 104.
1953
23 January - William Allen Magee, last authenticated surviving cavalry veteran of the American Civil War, dies at the age of 106.
12 March - James Hard, last authenticated surviving veteran of the American Civil War to see action and last surviving infantry veteran, dies at the age of 109.
3 October - Karl Glockner, last surviving German veteran of the Franco-Prussian War, dies at the age of 107.
Unknown date - Charles Wallace Warden, last surviving British veteran of the Zulu War, dies.
31 July - The Royal Navy gives its sailors their last daily ration of rum on "Black Tot Day", abolishing a practice that has been tradition for 325 years.[57]
28 October - Colonel Hubert Eva, believed to be the last survivor of the Battle of Sugar Point in 1898, is killed in a road traffic collision at the age of 102.[58][59]
9 March - Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda is the last ethnic Japanese soldier to surrender after World War II, after hiding in the Philippines for nearly thirty years.[60]
16 September - Cyriel Barbary, last surviving Belgian veteran of World War I, dies at the age of 104.
14 October - Joseph Mondoloni, last surviving Corsican veteran of World War I, dies at the age of 107.
9 November - Tom Kirk, last surviving British commissioned officer to have seen action in World War I, dies at the age of 104.
2005
1 January - Charles Watson, last surviving aircrew veteran of the Royal Flying Corps to have seen action in World War I and last surviving aircrewman to have been shot down in World War I, dies at the age of 105.
17 January - Kara McCoy, last surviving Australian female veteran of World War I, dies at the age of 106.
23 March - Jan Rzepa, last surviving German veteran of the Battle of Verdun and last surviving Polish veteran of the Polish Uprising, dies at the age of 105.
7 April - Charles Kuentz, last surviving German veteran of the World War IEastern Front and last surviving German veteran to have been wounded in World War I, dies at the age of 108.
16 May - Albert Marshall, last surviving British soldier to have taken part in a cavalry charge with drawn sword and last surviving British cavalryman of World War I, dies at the age of 108.
September - Bert van Sloten, last surviving Dutch veteran of World War I (although he fought for Germany), dies.
17 October - William Evan Allan, last surviving Australian veteran to have seen active service in World War I, last surviving Royal Australian Navy veteran of World War I, and last surviving Australian veteran of both World Wars, dies at the age of 106.
18 September - Heinrich Trettner, last surviving German general of World War II, dies at the age of 98.
15 October - Antonia de Bettin Casanova, last surviving Italian female veteran of World War I, dies at the age of 105.
10 December - Kenneth Cummins, last surviving Royal Navy officer of World War I, last surviving British officer to have seen action in World War I (although, as a midshipman, not commissioned), and last survivor of being torpedoed in World War I, dies at the age of 106.
25 July - Harry Patch, last surviving veteran of World War I to have seen action, last to have experienced trench warfare and last surviving veteran of the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917, dies at the age of 111.
2010
18 February - John Babcock, last surviving Canadian veteran of World War I, dies at the age of 109.
2012
8 January - Jimmy Storie, last surviving founder member of the Special Air Service in 1941, dies at the age of 92.[77]
2014
28 October - CWO5 Ralph E. Rigby, last continuously serving Vietnam draftee on active duty in the U.S. Army, retires on his 62nd birthday.[78]
2015
4 August - Squadron Leader Les Munro, last surviving pilot of the Dambusters Raid of May 1943, dies at the age of 96.
12 November - Edwin Bramall, Baron Bramall, last surviving British Chief of the General Staff to have held the rank of field marshal while serving in the post and last surviving British individual service chief to have held five-star rank while serving in the post, dies at the age of 95.
2020
18 January - Jim Auton, last surviving British airman to have taken part in the Warsaw airlift in 1944, dies at the age of 95.[82]
7 August - Staff Sergeant Cyril Robinson, last surviving New Zealand veteran and probably last surviving veteran of the Battle of Crete in 1941, dies at the age of 104.[84]
19 January - Jack Jennings, thought to be the last surviving Allied prisoner forced to work on the construction of the Burma Railway, dies at the age of 104.
Flight Lieutenant Alan Bryett is the last known surviving participant in the "Great Escape" of 1944, although he did not actually succeed in escaping.[88]
Josep Almudéver Mateu is the last surviving foreign-born veteran of the International Brigades and with his brother Vincent Almudéver is the last surviving foreign-born veteran of the Spanish Civil War.
21 February - Incas, the last known Carolina parakeet, dies in Cincinnati Zoo. Coincidentally, Incas dies in the same aviary cage as the last Passenger Pigeon, Martha, had done nearly four years earlier.[91][92]
Unknown date - The last known wild European bison is killed in north-eastern Poland. They survive in captivity and are reintroduced into the wild from 1951.
27 September - The last confirmed sighting of a Bali tiger, when an adult female is killed at Sumbar Kima. There have been several unconfirmed sightings since.
1938
Unknown date - The last captive Schomburgk's deer is killed. There is speculation that there may still be wild specimens alive.
Unknown date - The last reliable sighting of a Caribbean monk seal, when a small colony was seen at Serranilla Bank between Honduras and Jamaica. The pinniped is now presumed extinct due to over-hunting.
6 June - Shanawdithit, last living member of the Beothuk, dies at the age of c.28.
1853
19 October - Juana Maria, also known as the Lone Woman of San Nicolas Island, last surviving member of the Nicoleño tribe of California, dies of dysentery at Mission Santa Barbara.
1888
13 May - Brazil is the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery.
1916
25 March - Ishi, last member of the Yahi tribe from Northern California (known as the "last wild Indian"), dies at the age of 56.[100]
Redoshi (Sally Smith), last known surviving former slave to have been brought from Africa to the United States on a slave ship at an age to remember the journey, dies at the age of 89 or 90.[101]
1940
January - Matilda McCrear, last known surviving former slave to have been brought from Africa to the United States on a slave ship, dies at the age of 83.[102]
28 January - Boa Sr, last surviving speaker of Bo, an indigenous language of the Andaman Islands, dies at the age of 85.[103]
21 June - Stanley Lucas, last surviving British male born during the 19th century and the Victorian era, dies at the age of 110.
2017
15 April - Emma Morano, last known surviving person to have been born before 1900, dies at the age of 117.
2021
February - Aruká, last surviving male member of the Juma people of the Amazon and last native speaker of their language, dies at the age of 86–90.[104]
2022
24 August - The so-called Man of the Hole, last surviving inhabitant of the Tanaru Indigenous Territory in Brazil, is found dead. He had probably died some weeks earlier at the age of c.60.
9 May - Ernest Millington, last surviving British politician to have sat as an MP during World War II and last surviving Common Wealth Party MP, dies at the age of 93.
25 October - Fritz Darges, last surviving member of Adolf Hitler's inner circle, dies at the age of 96.
2010
11 January - Miep Gies, last surviving person involved with the Secret Annexe, dies at the age of 100.
3 April - Thomas Goldwell, Bishop of St Asaph, last surviving pre-Reformation Catholic bishop of England and Wales, dies in Rome at the age of 83 or 84.
5 September - Catherine Parr, last Queen Consort of England who is not also Queen Consort of Scotland, dies at the age of 35 or 36.
1553
6 July - Edward VI, last King of England who is not also King of Scotland, dies at the age of 15.
1557
16 July - Anne of Cleves, last surviving wife of Henry VIII and last surviving Queen Consort of England who was not also Queen Consort of Scotland, dies at the age of 41.
1560
11 June - Mary of Guise, last Queen Consort of Scotland who was never also Queen Consort of England, dies at the age of 44.
8 February - Mary, Queen of Scots, last monarch of Scotland who is never also monarch of England, is executed at the age of 44.
1603
24 March - Elizabeth I, last monarch of England who is not also monarch of Scotland, last monarch of the House of Tudor, and last surviving grandchild of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, dies at the age of 69.
1619
2 March - Anne of Denmark, last Queen Consort of Scotland who was not always also Queen Consort of England, dies at the age of 44.
1625
27 March - James VI, last King of Scotland who was not always also King of England, dies at the age of 58.
1651
1 January - Charles II is the last monarch to be crowned in Scotland.
17 November - Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, last Queen of Great Britain and Ireland before it became the United Kingdom, dies at the age of 74.
1820
29 January - George III, last King of Great Britain and Ireland before it became the United Kingdom and last surviving child of Frederick, Prince of Wales, dies at the age of 81.
30 March - Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, last Empress of India and last Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, dies at the age of 101.
13 March - Ekaterina Romanov de Farace di Villaforesta, last surviving member of the Russian Imperial Family born before the February Revolution, dies in Montevideo, Uruguay, at the age of 91.[citation needed]
23 May - Grand Duchess Leonida Georgievna, last surviving member of the Romanov family (by marriage) to have been born in the Russian Empire, dies in Spain at the age of 95.[121]
The last Olympic Games of antiquity are held, later being suppressed by Theodosius I as part of the campaign to impose Christianity as a state religion.
5 November - Pietro Rava, last surviving member of the winning Italy squad in the 1938 FIFA World Cup and last surviving player in the final, dies at the age of 90.
26 September - Géza Kalocsay, last surviving footballer to have played for Czechoslovakia and Hungary before World War II, dies at the age of 95.
2009
22 January - William Werber, last surviving teammate of Babe Ruth and last surviving player to have played against Ruth while he was with the New York Yankees, dies at the age of 100.
Amarildo, Jair, Mengálvio and Pepe are the last surviving members of the winning Brazil squad in the 1962 FIFA World Cup. Jair, Mengálvio and Pepe did not actually play in any matches in the tournament. Amarildo is the last surviving member to have played in the final.
24 May - The Clotilda is the last known slave ship to leave Africa with an illegal cargo of slaves bound for the United States.[123]
9 July - The Clotilda is the last known slave ship to arrive in the United States with an illegal cargo of slaves from Africa and is scuttled in the Alabama River.
21 March - RRS Discovery, last traditional wooden three-masted ship to be built in Britain, is launched.
1921
Unknown date - A cargo of timber from Bristol to Honeystreet is the last commercial load to be carried on the Kennet and Avon Canal before the retirement of the last carrier William Dickenson.[125]
1927
26 May - The last Ford Model T leaves the production line.
30 July - The last VW Beetle leaves the production line in Mexico.
24 October - Three Concorde aircraft (G-BOAE, G-BOAF, G-BOAG) land one after another at London Heathrow Airport, bringing an end to commercial supersonic air travel.
^"History of Tobacco Regulation". Retrieved 2007-02-14. The bill that emerged from conference differed only slightly from the Senate measure. The cautionary label to which the conferees agreed provides: "Warning: The Surgeon General Has Determined That Cigarette Smoking is Dangerous to Your Health." "In a final concession to the broadcasters, the conferees agreed to delay for one day the blackout of cigarette commercials from December 31, 1970, to midnight January 1, 1971. That would give them a last shower of cash from the New Year's Day football bowl games" (Wagner, 1971: 216). It was estimated that the loss to television and radio stations would amount to about $220 million a year, or about 7.5% of their total advertising revenues.
^Klinkenborg, Verlyn (February 8, 2006). "The Telegram". New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-21. The last telegram ever delivered appears to have been sent by Western Union -- whose very name seems to say telegram -- on Jan. 27. It's easy to understand why the practice of sending telegrams lapsed. They simply could not compete with telephones, express delivery services, e-mail and text-messaging -- which, in its compression, bears some curious analogy to the telegram. But knowing that the last telegram has now been delivered is somehow a little like knowing that the last martini has been drunk or the last dinner jacket worn. I would like to believe that there will always be a world where telegrams come directly to the door, throwing a note of suspense into the air.((cite news)): Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^"The Wreck of the Halsewell", The Times, 7 March 1845, p.3
^"The Wreck of the Royal George", The Times, 10 October 1850, p.4
^Martin, Douglas (January 27, 2004). "Adella Wotherspoon, Last Survivor of General Slocum Disaster, Is Dead at 100". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-04-06. Adella Wotherspoon, the last survivor of the deadliest disaster in New York City history until Sept. 11, 2001 -- the burning and sinking of the steamboat General Slocum in June 1904, died on Jan. 26. She was 100, the youngest Slocum survivor having at last become the oldest. She died at a convalescent home in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, said a close friend, Julia A. Clevett.((cite news)): Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^"Miss Lillian Gertrud Asplund". Encyclopedia Titanica. Retrieved 2007-02-14. Lillian Gertrude Asplund was the last living survivor of the Titanic disaster with actual memories of it. She lived in Massachusetts until her death on 6th May 2006. Lillian's hobbies, when she was able, included gardening, flowers (especially roses) and it was said her favorite snack was pepperoni pizza. She declined ever to discuss the disaster, as had her mother.
^"Last survivor from JFK's fateful limo ride dies". Associated Press. September 3, 2006. Retrieved 2007-07-21. Nellie Connally, the former Texas first lady who was riding in President Kennedy's limousine when he was assassinated, has died, a family friend said Saturday. The 87-year-old was the last living person who had been part of that fateful Dallas drive.((cite news)): Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^Halbert, Henry Sale; Ball, Timothy Horton (1895). The Creek War of 1813 and 1814. Donohue & Henneberr. p. 142. Retrieved 27 October 2018. josiah allen sam dale.
^"The War is Over ... Please Come Out". About.com. Retrieved 2007-07-21. In 1944, Lt. Hiroo Onoda was sent by the Japanese army to the remote Philippine island of Lubang. His mission was to conduct guerrilla warfare during World War II. Unfortunately, he was never officially told the war had ended; so for 29 years, Onoda continued to live in the jungle, ready for when his country would again need his services and information. Eating coconuts and bananas and deftly evading searching parties he believed were enemy scouts, Onoda hid in the jungle until he finally emerged from the dark recesses of the island on March 19, 1972.((cite news)): Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^The Iowa class battleships were maintained on the Naval Vessel Register (NVR) throughout the mid and latter half of the 20th century; this was the last day on NVR before being officially struck. 109th Congress, House of Representatives. Report 109–452. "National Defense Authorization Act of 2007". p. 193. Archived from the original on 2006-09-21. http://web.archive.org/web/20060921124118/http://armedservices.house.gov/NDAA2007CommiteeReport.pdf. Retrieved 2006-11-26.
^"Last Female WWI Vet Dies at 109". Associated Press. March 28, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-21. The last known surviving American female World War I veteran, a refined Civil War buff who met face-to-face with the Secretary of the Navy to fight for women in the military, has died. She was 109. Charlotte Winters died Tuesday at a nursing home near Boonsboro in northwest Maryland, the U.S. Naval District in Washington said in a statement. Her death leaves just five known surviving American World War I veterans.((cite news)): Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^"Last WWI Navy Vet Dies". Associated Press. April 2, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-21. Lloyd Brown, the last known U.S. Navy veteran to fight in World War I, has died. He was 105. Brown died Thursday at the Charlotte Hall Veterans Home in Maryland, according to family and the U.S. Naval District in Washington.((cite news)): Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^"The Passenger Pigeon". Smithsonian. Retrieved 2007-02-14. The last known individual of the passenger pigeon species was "Martha" (named after Martha Washington). She died at the Cincinnati Zoological Garden, and was donated to the Smithsonian Institution, where her body was once mounted in a display case with this notation ...
^"Foreign Intelligence", The Times, 25 March 1861, p.10
^"Foreign Intelligence", The Times, 13 November 1865, p.5
^"Hess Dies at 93; Hitler's Last Lieutenant". New York Times. August 23, 1987. Walter Richard Rudolf Hess, the last of Hitler's lieutenants, died last week in Spandau Prison in West Berlin in characteristically murky circumstances. Allied officials said Hess had committed suicide, as did his long-dead fellow Nazis - Hitler, Goring, Goebbels and Himmler, strangling himself with an electric cord. They said he left a note pointing to suicide. But a lawyer for the partially blind 93-year-old prisoner suggested there might have been foul play.((cite news)): |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^"Pu Yi, Last Emperor of China And a Puppet for Japan, Dies; Enthroned at 2, Turned Out at 6, He Was Later a Captive of Russians and Peking Reds". Associated Press. October 19, 1967, Thursday. Henry Pu Yi, last Manchu emperor of China and Japan's puppet emperor of Manchukuo, died yesterday in Peking of complications resulting from cancer, a Japanese newspaper reported today. He was 61 years old.((cite news)): |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^"Habsburg Grandeur Is Dusted Off for Burial of 'Our Sister the Empress Zita'". New York Times. April 2, 1989. Old Vienna dusted off its imperial finery today to lay to rest Austria's last Empress, paying a regal tribute to a woman who remained quietly true to her lost crown and to the late Emperor through seven decades of exile. For the first time since the 600-year Austro-Hungarian monarchy was dissolved in 1919, the ornate black imperial catafalque - borrowed from the Museum at Schonbrunn Palace -rolled past the old palaces and baroque temples of central Vienna to the imperial burial vault. There, under the Capuchin Church, Zita, Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, was laid to rest among the richly decorated caskets of the Habsburgs.((cite news)): |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^"Prince Wilhelm-Karl of Prussia, German kaiser's last grandson, dies at 85". Associated Press. Prince Wilhelm-Karl of Prussia, a grandson of Germany's last emperor, has died, the organization that he headed said. He was 85. The Johanniter order, which the prince led for several decades, said Wilhelm-Karl was the last surviving grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II, who abdicated and went into exile after World War I. Wilhelm-Karl died on Monday, the knightly order said in a statement late Wednesday, but it did not give the cause of death. Born in Potsdam, outside Berlin, he became the head of the Johanniter in 1958 and presided over an expansion of its charitable work, supporting hospitals, clinics and kindergartens. The order is now headed by his son, Prince Oskar of Prussia. Wilhelm-Karl's funeral is to be held next Thursday at Berlin's Protestant cathedral.((cite news)): |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
^"Last king of Afghanistan, dies at age 92". Associated Press. Afghanistan's last king, a symbol of unity who oversaw four decades of peace before a 1973 palace coup ousted him and war shattered his country, died Monday. He was 92. Mohammad Zahir Shah's demise ended the last vestige of Afghanistan's monarchy and triggered three days of national mourning for a man still feted as the "Father of the Nation" since his return from exile after the 2001 ouster of the Taliban. Though he was not always effective during his 40-year reign, Zahir Shah is remembered warmly by his conflict-weary countrymen for steering the country without bloodshed.((cite news)): |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)