Mushrooms and a horse, the Queen’s last hours in nine facts
Royal insider Robert Hardman’s book about the coronation of King Charles III reveals the inside story of Her Majesty’s final hours.
The final hours of the Queen’s life on September 8, 2022, at Balmoral are recounted in Robert Hardman’s just published book, Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story.
1. “Buzzy” before dinner: On the evening of September 6, the queen was “energised”, having met the departing prime minister, Boris Johnson, and his replacement, Liz Truss. The queen’s horse, Love Affairs, had won the 3.05pm at Goodwood. “She was quite buzzy over pre-dinner drinks,” said one person in the party, which included her daughter, Princess Anne, and her oldest grandchild, Peter Phillips. “But then she said she was going upstairs to have dinner alone.”
2. Last-minute cancellation: The queen spent the following day in bed, still intending to appear via video link, from her bedroom, at the Privy Council meeting that night. But with minutes to go, councillors were told she would be cancelling “on medical advice”.
3. “Think how you’d feel”: Charles was at Dumfries House in Ayrshire. By the evening of September 7, the Princess Royal and the Charles’s private secretary, Sir Clive Alderton, were advising him to leave for Balmoral. “They were both saying to him: ‘Think how you’d feel if you never said goodbye’,” one member of staff told Hardman. The next morning, the Princess Royal called and told him to come at once. He and the Duchess of Cornwall touched down in a helicopter at Birkhall, their home on the Balmoral estate, just before 10.30am on September 8. They had to borrow an “elderly” Land Rover, which Charles himself drove to Balmoral.
4. Cold reception for Harry: According to Hardman’s book, Prince William’s team liaised with Prince Andrew and Prince Edward’s teams. The RAF arranged for an Envoy IV light transport plane to fly from RAF Northolt, west London, to Aberdeen.
In his memoir, Prince Harry says he “immediately texted Willy” after the call from their father, “to ask whether he and Kate were flying up. If so, when? And how? No response”. Harry says he and Meghan looked into their own flights, until, according to his memoir, he received a call from his father telling him to come alone. He chartered his own plane.
5. William’s lucky break: Catherine, then Duchess of Cambridge, however, had “certainly not” been asked to stay away, according to Hardman. Instead, it was decided she would stay with her three young children, who were due to start school. “It was by luck rather than judgment, but it made it a lot easier to tell Harry he was coming alone,” said an aide.
6. Mushroom picking: According to staff, people were still “thinking in terms of days rather than hours” – and so the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall went to the grounds of Birkhall. Charles went mushroom picking, and Camilla went for a short walk.
The queen was left to rest in bed, watched over by the Princess Royal, Angela Kelly, the queen’s dresser, and Dr Douglas Glass, her local GP, while Rev Kenneth Mackenzie, chaplain to the queen, read the Bible.
7. Time of death: At 3pm, Glass received an urgent call to come upstairs and Charles and Camilla were summoned back. By the time Glass got to the bedroom, the queen “appeared to have stopped breathing”. The queen’s private secretary, Sir Edward Young, phoned Charles, who was driving. He was “addressed as Your Majesty for the first time”, writes Hardman. “No further explanation was needed.”
8. Calling the princes: Charles was put through to William, and then to the Duke of York and Earl of Wessex. Harry was airborne and, according to palace staff, out of reach. “There were repeated attempts to get through to him,” an official told Hardman. In his memoir, Harry said he found out from the BBC as he landed.
9. Her final request: In the queen’s final red box were two letters, one to Young, and one to the new King, which remain private. It also had her shortlist for the Order of Merit, which included Floella Benjamin, the campaigner, and Paul Nurse, a geneticist. “It was the last document handled by Queen Elizabeth II,” writes Hardman. “Even on her deathbed, there had been work to do. And she had done it.”
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