Details of Queen Elizabeth II’s dying days have emerged: death at Balmoral

Britain’s late Queen Elizabeth II worried that her death at Balmoral would “complicate things,” says her daughter Princess Anne Royal. She shared details of Elizabeth II’s final days in a BBC documentary to be shown on Boxing Day.

After a lifetime of public service, the late queen was still preoccupied with duty in her final days, expressing concern that it would be “difficult” if she died at Scotland’s Balmoral Castle, the princess royal said.

But Elizabeth II was advised not to let her concerns “be part of the decision-making process,” Anne says in a documentary covering the first year of King Charles III’s reign.

Queen Elizabeth, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, died peacefully at Balmoral in Scotland on September 8 last year at the age of 96 after a 70-year reign, The Guardian recalls.

Speaking about her mother, Princess Anne says in the documentary: “I think there was a moment when she felt it would have been harder if she had died at Balmoral. And I think we really tried to convince her that this shouldn’t be part of the decision-making process.”

Laughing, the princess adds, “So I hope in the end she felt like it was the right thing to do, because I think we did.”

In the BBC documentary Charles III: The Year of the Coronation, which will be shown before Christmas, Princess Anne reveals some of the late Queen’s thoughts during her final days.

Balmoral was said to be the Queen’s favorite royal residence, but knowing that careful plans had been made in the event of her death, she was worried that a death in Scotland could cause further problems for those pursuing the so-called London Bridge plans. Different plans were drawn up for each of the main royal residences, and the activities for Scotland were codenamed Operation Unicorn.

The Princess Royal says in the film that it was a “happy accident” that she was at Balmoral before her mother died, and she “strangely felt a sense of relief” when the Imperial State Crown was removed from her coffin, a symbolic moment when the role of the monarch shifted to Charles III.

Anne describes watching royal jeweler Mark Appleby remove the crown, scepter and orb from Queen Elizabeth’s coffin before it was lowered into the royal crypt in front of the royal family.

“My mother’s funeral in St George’s Cathedral, he takes the crown off the coffin – I felt quite strangely relieved, somehow it was all over. This responsibility is transferred to others,” says the Princess Royal.

Shedding light on the difficulties of this period for her brother, King Charles, Princess Anne says: “To be honest, I’m not sure anyone can really prepare for this kind of change… It’s not easy. And then changes happen and you say, “Okay, now I have to continue.” Monarchy is a 365-day-a-year activity; it doesn’t stop because you change monarchs for whatever reason.”

Anne also praised Queen Camilla for her “outstanding” understanding of her role as consort and the comfort it gave King Charles III.

“I’ve known her for a long time, from time to time,” Anna says of Camilla. “Her understanding of her role and how important it is for the king was absolutely outstanding, and the role is not something she would be natural for, but she does it really well. And it provides that change of speed and tone, it’s equally modern.”