New details of Queen Elizabeth II’s final days and last engagements have been revealed, following the monarch’s death in 2022.
It comes as Buckingham Palace would have today, Tuesday (21 April), celebrated the ruler’s 100th birthday.
Following a history-making 70 years on the British throne, the late Queen passed away ‘peacefully’ at Balmoral Castle in Scotland on 8 September 2022, aged 96.
Her state funeral was held a few weeks after her passing on Monday (19 September) at Westminster Abbey in London, with Royal Family members in attendance and the British public travelling in from around the UK to pay their condolences.
The Queen was working right up until the very end and carried out her final engagement just two days before her death.
Her final job as a royal was to meet and appoint Liz Truss, who had just been elected UK Prime Minister at the time.
Such an engagement would usually take place at Buckingham Palace; however, it was instead moved to Scotland due to the Queen’s decline in health, meaning the politician had to travel.
Queen Elizabeth II met with Liz Truss just days before her death in 2022 (WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Photos from the day showed the duo shaking hands and posing for pictures together, in what would go on to be one of the Queen’s final images.
Now, new details of the late monarch’s last days on Earth have been revealed, according to royal biographer Robert Hardman’s new book – Queen Elizabeth II: In Private. In Public. The Inside Story.
In a passage shared by the Daily Mail, he claimed: “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.”
For context, at the time the Queen had 12 great-grandchildren – Prince William and Kate Middleton’s children, Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, seven, as well as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s children, Prince Archie, six, and Princess Lilibet, four.
She was also great-grandma to Savannah Phillips and Isla Phillips, who are the children of Peter Phillips and Autumn Kelly, Mia, Lena, and Lucas, who are Zara and Mike Tindall’s children, Princess Beatrice’s daughter, Sienna and Princess Eugenie’s son, August.
Beatrice’s daughter, Athena, and Eugenie’s second son, Ernest, were not yet born before the Queen’s death.
It comes as the late monarch’s national memorial statue has been revealed (WPA Pool/Getty Images)
It comes as plans have been revealed for a memorial to the late Queen, featuring a statue of the monarch during her early reign.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla viewed a scale model of the tribute at the British Museum on Tuesday (21 April), which would have been her centennial, as well as maquettes of the late monarch and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.
Full-scale versions of the statues will form part of the permanent memorial in the park, close to Buckingham Palace, with the national tribute set to be completed in 2028.
Tyla has contacted Buckingham Palace for comment.