Aryanews- Queen Elizabeth II and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown expressed shock and condolences Saturday fter the death of President Lech Kaczynski in a plane crash.
Heir to the throne Prince Charles and wife Camilla were also "shocked and deeply upset" at the crash, which killed 96 people including scores of Polish establishment figures in western Russia, according to his office.
"It is with the deepest sorrow that I have learnt of the death of President Lech Kaczynski and First Lady Madame Kaczynska," the queen said in a message to Polish Parliament speaker Bronislaw Komorowski.
"On this sad occasion, I recall President Kaczynski's long and distinguished public service and his role in the Solidarity movement.
"The deaths of many other of Poland's leading figures, including former president in exile Kaczorowski, only serve to deepen this tragedy. I send my deepest sympathy to you and to the whole Polish nation."
Prime Minister Brown added he was "shocked and saddened" at the death of Kaczynski, saying he was "one of the defining actors in Poland's modern political history."
"He will mourned across the world and remembered as a passionate patriot and democrat," Brown said. "My thoughts are with his family and countrymen at this most difficult of times."
Foreign Secretary David Miliband was "deeply upset" to hear of the plane crash. "Britain and Poland have stood together many times in the past and we stand together in solidarity and sorrow today," Miliband said.
David Cameron, leader of Britain's main opposition Conservatives whose party is allied with Kaczynski's in the European Parliament, said the death was "a very black day for Poland indeed".