No monarch had marked 70 years on the Throne. Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee opened with her annual Birthday Parade. She did not appear in the procession but came out on to the Palace balcony at the end.

The following day, the Palace said she was 'too tired' to attend the service of Thanksgiving at St Paul's Cathedral. In fact, it had never been the plan that she would be there at all.

Appearing for a few minutes on the Palace balcony was fine; a whole church service was not. She would watch it on television, as would the Duke of York, who had miraculously contracted Covid for the entire jubilee weekend.

The Queen also missed the Epsom Derby and a special evening concert in front of the Palace before the jubilee concluded the next day with a 7,000-strong rolling pageant meandering the full length of the Mall and beyond.

Once again, the Queen was watching on television at Windsor until the Prince of Wales felt that she really had to be part of it. As the pageant concluded with Ed Sheeran singing in front of the Palace, the Royal Standard suddenly appeared on the flagpole above. The Queen had arrived through the back gate.

With the Mall now full to capacity with crowds, she emerged on the balcony in dark green, unaided but for her stick. Poor weather late in the day had ruled out the usual flypast by the Red Arrows. But no matter. On this occasion, the Queen herself had been the grand finale.

No one had stood on this balcony, waving and being waved at, more often than Elizabeth II. Ninety-five years on from her debut as a tiny child in the reign of George V, she went back through the French windows for the very last time.


The jubilee had exhausted the Queen. For the first time in her reign, she missed every single day of the Royal Ascot meeting, a sure sign something was amiss.

At the end of June, however, she travelled north to Edinburgh for her usual week of official events at the Palace of Holyroodhouse. If the Queen was going to conserve her energies for anything, it was for this traditional reminder of her central role in Scottish life.

The monarch then returned to Windsor for the final round of summer engagements ahead of her summer holiday at Balmoral. Though unspoken, many felt a sense of final farewell this time. Perhaps the Queen did too.

'She was so brave,' said an official who saw her regularly over the summer. 'You could tell she was having a lot of treatment from the bruising on her hands where the cannula had gone in. Her hands seemed permanently bruised.'

She went to see her fell pony, Emma, and her other horses for one last time. On the eve of her departure, she held the last round of audiences and a Privy Council meeting.

'We had a private chat at the end of it,' said one of those present. 'I felt a bit emotional when I left because, well, it just felt to me like a goodbye. She had some very clear messages about how she thought things would go in the future. Very clear, indeed!'

The Queen wanted all the great-grandchildren to come up to Balmoral at some point over that summer, even if the Sussexes might not be able to make it. 'She wanted to make sure that they all had a really happy memory of her,' explained a friend of the family.

Her exact medical condition has never been revealed. Those closest to her will only say that she had 'a number of things' in the late summer of 2022. Whatever the exact cause, she was well aware of her medical prognosis, and it had been enough to encourage her to tie up various loose ends.

She had also given thought to her funeral arrangements – though not much. Some members of the family took great delight in making these plans. The Queen Mother had always wanted to be updated whenever there was a rehearsal for her funeral, while Lord Mountbatten's endless changes to every aspect of his final farewell would exasperate officials.

Elizabeth II was well aware that many people had been planning her funeral for decades, but did not dwell on it. Indeed, one member of staff said she had to be nudged to nominate her choice of hymns after the clergy made a gentle request for guidance. Ever the pragmatist, she was still looking to the present, and had certainly not precluded a sudden return to London at short notice to appoint a new prime minister.

Boris Johnson's resignation as Tory leader had kickstarted a summer-long Conservative leadership contest which left the country listless for weeks. The Queen had therefore decided that whenever a leader was finally chosen, she would take the royal train down to London.

An official told me that she thought it would look 'selfish' to drag outgoing and incoming prime ministers up to the Highlands with television news cameras following them there and back. Besides, she believed the country needed to resume being governed as quickly as possible.

As the summer wore on, however, she was beginning to feel weaker again. In mid-August, she asked her officials if it might be acceptable for her to remain in Scotland. They assured her that it would be and, just to reassure her, they secured the approval of all the leadership candidates, too.

It was now becoming clear she might actually never head south again. She discussed it with her children. Typically, her concern was that she might be creating unnecessary problems for everyone else.

'There was a moment when she felt that it would be more difficult if she died at Balmoral,' said the Princess Royal. 'And I think we did try to persuade her that it shouldn't be part of the decision-making process. So I hope she felt that that was right in the end.'

On September 5, Liz Truss was formally declared the new Conservative leader and plans were set in motion for 'kissing hands' and her formal appointment the following day. The Queen was determined to effect the transition with all the dignity and correctness she had observed with all her prime ministers, going back to Winston Churchill. It would require a very great effort, though sadly no one would realise how much effort until later.

Johnson arrived at Balmoral shortly before noon on September 6 to resign, stayed for around 15 minutes and left. An hour later, Truss arrived to be appointed as the 15th British prime minister of the Queen's reign.

'She stood up to greet me,' Truss told me. 'She was clearly physically not very well but we talked for about twenty minutes. She was alert. I would say she was relieved that the thing had actually happened and that we were now moving things forward.'

The photograph of a beaming Queen, stick in hand, on her feet, in cardigan and Balmoral tartan in front of the Balmoral fireplace, would be the last image ever taken of Elizabeth II.

Were an animator to have drawn a bubble emanating from her head, it might have said: 'Job done.' She had sailed through her jubilee and had now put the country back on an even keel (not for long, though the Queen was not to know it).

There was only a small party in residence at the castle, including the Princess Royal who was, by good fortune, in the area undertaking engagements.

All gathered for early evening drinks where one of those present remembered the Queen 'quite buzzy' as she looked back on some of the prime ministers she had known. The day, however, had taken its toll. She then announced that she would be going upstairs to have dinner alone.

That night, back in London, Boris Johnson confided in friends that he had never seen the Queen look so weak. 'We were helping him to drown his sorrows after resigning, but he said that what really made him sad was that he wouldn't be around as prime minister to give the Queen a really good send-off – which he would have done because he was a wordsmith,' said one of his closest allies. 'He just said, 'She looked terribly, terribly frail'.'

There was, however, no cause for alarm until the following day, when the Queen said she would be staying in bed. That was unusual, even at this stage of life.

The local doctor, Douglas Glass from Ballater, was asked to drop by. He would regularly report in to the Queen's senior doctor, Sir Huw Thomas, the Head of the Royal Medical Household, but at this stage there was no need for medical backup.

Plans were put in place for the Queen to attend that evening's meeting of the Privy Council (a very important one following the change of government) through an audio link to the Downing Street conference suite. With minutes to go, the politicians in London were told that the meeting was off on 'medical advice'.

The Princess Royal had been keeping her elder brother updated at the other end of Scotland, where he was at Dumfries House with the Duchess of Cornwall. The following morning, the couple boarded a helicopter to Balmoral.

Rather than cause a commotion and disturb the Queen at the castle, they landed at their home at Birkhall. It was so last-minute that there was no car waiting. The Prince borrowed a Land Rover from a member of the estate staff and climbed into the driving seat.


By late morning, the Prince and the Duchess of Cornwall had spent an hour at the Queen's bedside. Since word would soon be spreading of all these royal movements, the Queen's private secretary, Sir Edward Young, knew that a bulletin was needed.

Normally, the Palace only issued medical statements if the Queen was hospitalised or missing an engagement. At 12.32, the Palace announced simply that she was 'under medical supervision' while remaining 'comfortable and at Balmoral'. The fact that the bulletin said nothing spoke volumes to those in the know.

Prince Charles and the Duchess decided to leave her to rest for a while. Princess Anne and the monarch's dresser Angela Kelly ensured that the Queen was never alone.

Even at this stage, there was no need for constant medical supervision or intervention. The current advice was to think in terms of days, perhaps even a week or two. No one was talking hours, let alone minutes.

Dr Glass remained at the little staff surgery inside the castle while the Rev Kenneth MacKenzie, minister at Crathie church and a chaplain to the Queen, sat at her bedside reading from the Bible.

A little after 3pm, there was an urgent call for Dr Glass to come upstairs. It appeared that the Queen had now stopped breathing. At the same time, the Princess Royal called Birkhall to alert the Prince of Wales that he needed to return as quickly as possible.

The prince had been out in the grounds picking mushrooms, as he liked to do in early autumn, while the Duchess was walking the dogs. The couple jumped back in the Land Rover with their tiny team and set off for the castle at speed.

The prince took the South Deeside Road, between the woods and the river, a route he had known all his life, and then veered off on to an even smaller back road leading into the estate.

Up in the Queen's bedroom, Dr Glass checked and checked again. There could be no doubt. His patient was at peace.

Sir Edward Young was waiting outside the room. Dr Glass went outside and confirmed to him that the Queen was dead. Young was now on autopilot. His duty was to tell the new sovereign immediately before telling anyone else.

He called Birkhall to be told that the prince was on his way. He asked the Balmoral switchboard to try all the mobile numbers of those in the small entourage in the hope that someone would have a signal.

The prince might only be minutes away, but there could be no risk of any delay through a puncture or, worse, some sort of accident. Eventually, one of the party could feel their phone vibrating and could see the call was from the switchboard.

The phone was passed to the prince's private secretary, Sir Clive Alderton, who answered, asked his boss to stop the car and handed him the device. For the first time, on a lonely, beautiful Highland roadside sitting in the driving seat of an old Land Rover, King Charles III was addressed as 'Your Majesty'.

Sir Edward Young duly asked the constitutional formalities. By what name would the King reign? (Charles.) And would His Majesty grant permission to call the Prime Minister? (Yes.) 'I'm nearly there,' the new monarch said, and put the car in gear.

A handwritten note by Sir Edward was immediately agreed with the doctor for clarity and posterity. It would also be very comforting for all who loved her. It stated: 'Dougie [Glass] in at 3.25. Very peaceful. In her sleep. Slipped away. Old age. Death has to be registered in Scotland. Agree 3.10pm. She wouldn't have been aware of anything. No pain.'
The footman she insisted waited on Paddington, too

For many of her subjects, their fondest final memory of Elizabeth II will always be her video appearance with Paddington Bear at the start of her Platinum Jubilee concert in June 2022 – complete with his trademark marmalade sandwiches.

This was a reprise of her glorious appearance with James Bond at the opening of the 2012 Olympics in her Diamond Jubilee year.

What viewers were not to know – until now – is that it was also a show of kindness and loyalty towards her staff.

The Bond sketch had featured the Queen's senior page, Paul Whybrew. The Queen thought it only fair that this film should include a walk-on part for her other trusty page, Barry Mitford.

The producers initially ruled out the idea, saying that the plot required just one footman – actor Simon Farnaby. 'They soon got a message passed back – No Barry, no Queen,' recalled one of those on set that day.

Sure enough, as well as seeing a scowling Farnaby playing his part, viewers worldwide would see a second footman in attendance – Barry Mitford.

The punchline was Paddington producing marmalade sandwiches from his hat only for the Queen to extract her own from her handbag – 'for later'.

There was no artifice. 'They had real marmalade in them,' said the source. 'So Angela Kelly made sure the Queen used an old handbag she would not be using again.'

Because of the computer-generated effects, the Queen had actually addressed her lines to a hat on a stick. 'She loved doing it. She enjoyed the whole process enormously,' said an aide.

The public loved it every bit as much as that Olympic skit a decade before. The James Bond film had been funny. So, too, was this one, except that it also had that deep emotional subtext as Paddington concluded: 'Happy Jubilee, Ma'am – and thank you, for everything.'





He might have been president of the Automobile Association but driving with the Duke of Edinburgh was always a trial.

Before his marriage to Princess Elizabeth, Prince Philip flipped a car into a ditch, much to the concern of royal staff: 'They did not feel that Philip should be allowed to drive the heir to the throne about London,' wrote her former governess, Marion 'Crawfie' Crawford.

He finally stopped in 2019 after a serious incident on the A149 near Sandringham. 'He was an appalling driver. When he had that accident I wasn't at all surprised,' admitted one Sandringham regular. 'He was always chatting away if there was a person in the passenger seat, usually a gamekeeper.

'And the Queen's driving was terrible, too. She would insist on driving one of the Land Rovers to a shooting lunch. Fortunately, someone else usually drove back.'


The Queen was always tickled by innocent mistakes. A long-running favourite was the tale of

Sylvi Kekkonen, wife of the president of Finland. Having muddled her medication on the morning of their state visit to London, the Finnish first lady swallowed sleeping pills instead of heart pills and had to be propped upright by Prince Philip and Princess Anne as she snoozed through the carriage procession to Buckingham Palace.

And when a senior courtier was invited for a weekend at Balmoral but had to explain that he was already hosting a house party at home, the Queen impishly replied: 'Well, I won't be asking you again.'



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