King Charles spent his mother's final hours foraging for mushrooms around Birkhall and enjoying being in the woods, while his sister Anne never left the late Queen's bedside, a new book has revealed.
In the evening of September 7, while presiding over a function at Dumfries House in East Ayrshire, Charles had been informed that the late Queen's death had suddenly deteriorated.
The following morning, he was flown by helicopter to Balmoral Castle to join his sister, Princess Anne, who was at their mother's bedside.
Initially, it appeared that there was "no immediate reason for alarm", so the King, then Prince Charles, returned to Birkhall, his estate on Royal Deeside, to go for a walk in the surrounding woods, royal correspondent Robert Jobson wrote in his new book 'Our King'.
The author said the monarch brought "a walking cane and a basket" with him and went around looking for mushrooms as he realised his accession as King was fast approaching.
The book, serialised in the Mail on Sunday, reads: "After spending a few hours with his mother, the Prince returned to Birkhall, his nearby estate on Royal Deeside. His intention? A walk in the surrounding woods, armed with a walking cane and a basket.
"As the Queen's life ebbed away, her heir was foraging for mushrooms. More importantly, he was drawing solace and strength from the trees, the smell of the earth and the murmur of the River Muick.
"Understandably lost in thought, the Prince knew that the defining moment of his life, at the advanced age of 73, was fast approaching: the death of his mother and his accession as King."
Mr Jobson added that Charles' protection officers had "hung back" to give him "some privacy" but still kept an eye on him from a distance.
However, while walking in the woods, one of the officers informed Charles that the Queen's health had dramatically worsened and he was advised to return to Balmoral immediately.
He reached his mother's bedside before she died at 3.10pm - and at the time, his wife Camilla, sister Anne and the Queen's doctor, GP James Glass, were next to the late monarch, Mr Jobson wrote in his book.
Other members of the Royal Family including Prince William, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward and his wife Sophie arrived at Balmoral at about 5pm, almost two hours after the Queen died.
Prince Harry, who happened to be in the middle of a mini-tour of the UK and Germany when his grandmother's health took a turn for the worse, then arrived at around 8pm.
The Queen was laid to rest on September 2022, after 70 years on the throne as thousands of mourners lined the streets for a final farewell.
Around 2,000 mourners - which included world leaders, royals and NHS staff - gathered inside Westminster Abbey for the state funeral, the like of which the country hasn't seen for some seven decades.
The Queen's coffin was then marched by gun carriage from Westminster and past Buckingham Palace before departing London on her last journey.
A tearful King Charles, still publicly grieving the loss of his beloved mother, as well as other royals including young Prince George and Princess Charlotte, then paid their respects in a smaller ceremony at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle.
