Queen Elizabeth “didn’t want to die there”, the revelation about the last days

Queen Elizabeth didn’t want to go to Scotland because dying there would make the funeral more difficult. Spending the summer holidays at Balmoral Castle was a tradition for the sovereign. But as she grew older and had difficulty getting around, she feared she would die far from London, as she later did. After seventy years on the throne, Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022 at Balmoral, her most beloved residence. After a lifetime of public service, the Queen was still concerned that it would be “more complicated” to implement Operation London Bridge, the plan for what should be done after the death of a sovereign. This “concern” of the queen is revealed by her daughter, Princess Anne, in the documentary “Charles III: the year of the coronation”, the documentary that celebrates the first year of the new sovereign’s reign and will be broadcast on Boxing Day on the BBC, the British television audience.

“We told the Queen that her concerns should not be part of the decision-making process,” says Anna. “I think there was a time when she felt it would be harder if she died at Balmoral. We reassured her.” The Royal Household and the government had in fact created different plans for each of the main royal residences and everything was ready wherever the monarch died. The Princess Royal recalls in the documentary that she was at Balmoral before her mother’s death almost by chance, as she was returning from a trip to Scotland and, before returning to London, she decided “out of convenience” to stop at the manor house where she met the queen. Anna thus became the only one of Elizabeth’s four children to be present at her death. . Carlo arrived later. The princess, as the documentary continues, felt a sense of relief” when the state crown was removed from the coffin, a symbolic moment in which the role passed from her to the new monarch, Charles III. Mark Appleby House to removing the crown, scepter and orb from the bier before Elizabeth was buried in the crypt at Windsor Chapel.

“I thought: it’s over. Now the responsibility passes to others”, emphasizes Anna. “To be honest, I’m not sure anyone can really prepare for that kind of change, at least not easily. work that takes up 365 days a year; It doesn’t stop because a sovereign changes, for no reason.”

The princess also praises Charles’ queen consort, Camilla Parker-Bowles, for her “exceptional understanding of the role” and the “comfort she gives Charles.” He adds: “I’ve known her for a long time. She plays this role very well. And it provides this change of pace and tone, she’s modern.” ,” says Ana. “But I think my brother is learning things about the organization that maybe he was only vaguely aware of before.”