The late Queen Elizabeth II reportedly knew she wouldn’t reach the same milestone as her mother, who lived past her 100th birthday.
When the late Queen died on September 8, 2022, the news was met with shock around the world, despite the monarch reaching the not insignificant age of 96 years old. For most people, Queen Elizabeth was the only monarch they’d ever known, having reigned for a historic 70 years to become Britain’s longest-serving monarch in history.
But some of the shock came from the fact that it seemed like she would stick around for longer, as her mother had done. The Queen Mother died aged 101 in 2002.
In an excerpt of his book, Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, royal expert Robert Hardman suggests that, unlike most of the world, the Queen was prepared for her death – and she had come to realise she wouldn’t reach 100.
In excerpts serialised in the Daily Mail, Hardman writes, “She had come to realise that the medical prognosis meant she was not going to emulate her mother and reach one hundred so she had been determined to make the most of that year.”
Hardman also explores an ongoing mystery around the Queen’s cause of death.
It’s suggested the exact case will never be known because Her Majesty was “suffering from multiple conditions in her final year.”
Biographer Gyles Brandreth has previously suggested that the Queen had myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer, but the Palace has never addressed these claims.
While the Queen’s acceptance that she wouldn’t live to see 100 might sound saddening, she reportedly used it to create happy memories for her family.
The book reveals, “She made sure she had all the family up over the summer so that the young ones in particular would always be left with happy memories of her.”
Another bombshell revelation in the book suggests there were discussions about what to do if Her Majesty had, in fact, stayed alive but continued to deteriorate.
In an excerpt from the book, a senior aide states, “With the Queen Mother going on past her 100th birthday, of course we had to think that the Queen would reach the same age. A regency seemed almost inevitable. That would have been very difficult.”
In a regency, a Regent is appointed to act on the monarch's behalf.
A regency applies if a monarch succeeds to the throne before the age of 18, or if a monarch becomes permanently incapacitated due to “infirmity of mind or body.”
The new book states that King Charles was not in support of the idea, however.
When the topic would arise, aides would suggest, “You could turn up with all the papers and he would say, 'Have you been through it all? Are you happy with this?' and that would be that.”
However, “he didn't want to dwell on the details… I think he felt that if you reach out for something, you are tempting fate.”
In the end, the Queen passed away “peacefully.” As written down on a memo by her Private Secretary, the Queen’s death was recorded as “Very peaceful. In her sleep. Slipped away. Old age. She wouldn't have been aware of anything. No pain.”
She was said to have been working up until her final days, leaving behind sealed letters for her son, King Charles, and her private secretary in her last red box of her reign.
