Queen Elizabeth was ‘clearly not well’, former UK PM Boris Johnson reveals

Boris Johnson has shared more details of his final meeting with the Queen, just two days before she died.

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told of his final meeting with the Queen - and how he realised she was not in good health.

Mr Johnson met the 96-year-old at Balmoral Castle last Tuesday when he went to formally resign.

“The last audience I had with her - one of the reasons it was so shocking on the 8th, to hear about her death - was because in that audience, she had been absolutely on it,’ he told the BBC.

“Just two days before her death. She was actively focused on geopolitics, on UK politics, quoting statesmen from the 1950s, it was quite extraordinary.

“She seemed very bright, very focused.”

Mr Johnson did reflect, however, that the Queen was “clearly not well”.

“I think that was the thing that I found so moving when I heard about her death, when we all heard about her death on Thursday, two days later,” he said.

“I just thought how incredible that her sense of duty had kept her going in the way that it had. Given how ill she obviously was, how amazing that she should be so bright and so focused. So it was a pretty emotional time,” Mr Johnson said.

Queen Elizabeth met the British medical criteria for “geriatric syndrome” but her cause of death may never be released.

Buckingham Palace has remained tight lipped about the Queen’s diagnosis following her passing last week.

The Queen was officially declared as having “died peacefully” in a statement, with the Palace on Tuesday refusing to be drawn further on details about her medical condition.

Well-wishers lay tributes outside Buckingham Palace on September 9, 2022 in London, United Kingdom. Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images

There have been reports that bruises on her hand, seen in a photograph taken with incoming British Prime Minister Liz Truss, may have been linked to a blood circulation disorder.

Her Majesty had been battling several health conditions, including Covid-19, which she contracted in February.

Queen Elizabeth II and Charles, now King, as they processed through the Royal Gallery, after the Queen's Speech, during the State Opening of Parliament, before her mobility problems took hold. Picture: AFP

She was forced to cancel her appearance at the opening of the British Parliament in May because of “episodic mobility problems”, which was related to her hospital stay last year.

However, medical experts have pointed out the Queen was a typical case to be included on Britain’s Frailty Index, which is used to “systematically track” people over 65.

The index is then used to determine whether medical intervention would be beneficial.

Queen Elizabeth II seen using a walking stick at the opening ceremony of The Senedd on October 14, 2021 in Cardiff, Wales. Picture: Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images

“Frailty is a medical syndrome with multiple causes and contributors that is characterised by diminished strength, endurance, and reduced physiologic function that increases an individual’s vulnerability for developing increased dependency and/or death’,” Britain’s National Health Service official advice states.

“The term “geriatric syndrome” is used to describe the unique features of common health conditions in older people that do not fit into discrete disease categories.”

Queen Elizabeth II during the last State Opening of Parliament at the Houses of Parliament in London, which is took place with reduced capacity due to Covid-19 restrictions. Picture: AFP

Medical experts, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Queen presented as a case of “geriatric syndrome” where the combined symptoms, rather than one specific illness, were the cause of death.

Britain’s NHS uses a test known as Prisma-7 as an indicator of frailty.

The Queen’s symptoms met five of the seven criteria required to be classed as frail, including that she was over 85, had ongoing health problems, required regular help, had been forced to cancel activities and used a stick.

Queen Elizabeth during the funeral of Prince Philip at Windsor Castle on April 17, 2021 in Windsor, England. HRH did express that Covid caused fatigue. Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images

The Queen, 96, addressed her Covid-19 diagnosis during a video call in April.

“It [Covid] does leave one very tired and exhausted, doesn’t it?” she told former Covid patient Asef Hussain.

Buckingham Palace did not reveal the cause of death for the Queen’s husband, Prince Philip in 2021.

The Duke of Edinburgh spent a month in hospital for an unspecified illness but it was later revealed his death certificate had been signed off by Sir Huw Thomas, the head of the royal medical team, as dying of “old age”.

The Crown of Scotland sits atop the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II during a Service of Prayer and Reflection for her life at St Giles' Cathedral. Picture: Jane Barlow / Getty Images

The Queen’s relatively sudden death shocked the world.

Her Majesty was still working in the lead up to her death, with her final official statement – a message of condolence to the people killed and injured in a stabbing attack in Canada – released the day before she died.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on Tuesday.

Originally published as Queen Elizabeth was ‘clearly not well’, former UK PM Boris Johnson reveals