Queen was dedicated to duty in her tragic final hours just like her father
The Queen’s ‘incredible’ dedication to her country in her final hours, echoed the same commitment her father, King George V, lived his whole life by. Queen...The Queen’s ‘incredible’ dedication to her country in her final hours, echoed the same commitment her father, King George V, lived his whole life by.
Queen Elizabeth II was still fulfilling important matters of business in the lead up to her tragic passing on September 8, 2022. The monarch had completed her notes on important documents in the sovereign’s official Red Box (that is handed between the monarch and the private secretary each night and morning). Within her final Red Box, the Queen had actually left two sealed envelopes inside as well, which is believed she had written in her final hours, perhaps knowing it was the last one she’d do. Now, a royal author has said the late monarch wholeheartedly trying to soldier on when she was in ill health mirrors the same attitude from her father. Robert Hardman in Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, spoke about the Queen’s final hours in his new book.
Queen wanted to continue with business in her final hours
Hardman writes the Queen told her staff she was planning to remain in bed all day, on September 7, which was unusual for the monarch. Because of her request, the local doctor, Dr Douglas Glass, was called in for a health check-up.
After his visit, the Queen told staff she was still wanted to go ahead with her meeting, which no one knew was her final hours.
Hardman writes: “After his visit, the Queen let it be known that she was still planning to appear, via video link, at the Privy Council meeting scheduled for that evening.
“Given the change of government, she knew that it would be a large and very important one, with several new Cabinet ministers and counselors to be sworn in.”
The author continues, officials arranged it, so the monarch could connect to the meeting in her bedroom if she was still feeling unwell.
“George V, after all, had held a Privy Council meeting in his Sandringham bedroom, just hours before his death in 1936,” he explains.
However, minutes before it was to go ahead it was cancelled on “medical advice”, writes Hardman.
Prime Minister at the time, Liz Truss, said: “Everyone had gathered for this Privy Council meeting. It was only cancelled at the time when it was meant to go ahead. So people thought, ‘This isn’t good news’.”
Penny Mordaunt, the Lord President of the Council, has emotional ties to that memory. She told the writer: “For me, that was testament to the depth of her devotion to her duty and us: the day before she passed, she was still trying to fulfil her obligations as sovereign, which I find incredible”.
‘She slipped away in her sleep’
What has become a comfort for many fans, is to find out the Queen died ‘peacefully in her sleep’, according to a memo.
Almost 18 months after her passing, the new unofficial biography of King Charles, detailed her final days. A memo, supposedly written by her private secretary, Sir Edward Young, penned the Queen was “very peaceful” and would have passed away without any pain. It added, she “wouldn’t have been aware of anything”.
Her cause of death was listed as old age, and confirmed she passed in her sleep.
Charles and the now Queen Consort Camilla visited Elizabeth earlier in the day and sat with her for an hour, Hardman writes.
He then says the pair went off foraging for mushrooms nearby – because royal staff and The Firm believed they had ‘days not hours’ left with her. But sadly, it was on their way back, minutes away from the estate, when Charles’ assistant received a call in the car.
He asked the then Prince to pull over, which he did, and passed the phone over. But it was only when the person on the other end of the line said ‘Your Majesty’, that he knew she had died. They didn’t have to say anymore.
