Queen Elizabeth wanted to ensure that her great-grandchildren would have happy memories of her during what proved to be her final summer, royal biographer Robert Hardman claims in a new book.
In an excerpt of Elizabeth II: In Private. In Public. The Inside Story, out April 9, Hardman writes that the Queen wanted to see her great-grandchildren at Balmoral Castle in Scotland when she headed there for her traditional respite in the summer of 2022.
“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,” Hardman writes, according to an excerpt published by the Daily Mail on April 6, referring to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle and their children, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 4. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex stepped back from their royal roles in the U.K. in 2020 and moved to California, but they brought their children to the U.K. in June 2022 for the celebrations commemorating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
“‘She wanted to make sure that they all had a really happy memory of her,’ explained a friend of the family,’ ” he wrote.
Before her death, Queen Elizabeth was a great-grandmother to 12 great-grandchildren, including Prince William and Kate Middleton’s kids, Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7. (Since the history-making monarch died in 2022, two more great-grandchildren were born: Princess Eugenie’s second son, Ernest Brooksbank, and Princess Beatrice’s second daughter, Athena.)
Balmoral Castle is one of two homes that the Queen privately owned and a favorite escape for the British royals for generations.
“I think Granny is the most happy there. I think she really, really loves the Highlands,” Princess Eugenie said about Balmoral in the 2016 documentary, Our Queen at Ninety.
In the upcoming biography Elizabeth II, Hardman writes that the Queen grew weaker in the summer of 2022 and that there was a sense of finality to her last round of outings in Windsor before she headed to Balmoral for a break.
The royal author writes that she went to see her beloved fell pony, Emma, and horses for “one last time,” and the Queen hosted audiences and a Privy Council meeting before her trip north.
Hardman writes, ” ‘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!’ “
It’s thought that the Queen was privately dealing with health issues (which the palace never disclosed), and Hardman writes that insiders will only say that she had “‘a number of things’ ” in 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,” he writes.
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On Sept. 6, 2022 — two days before her death — the Queen held her last engagements at Balmoral Castle, where she accepted the resignation of outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and appointed his successor, Liz Truss, as the new premier. Truss’ transition was historic as it marked the first time in the Queen’s 70-year reign that she did not appoint an incoming prime minister at Buckingham Palace in London. The Queen had been experiencing episodic mobility issues, and a source told PEOPLE the appointment was held at Balmoral for certainty of schedules.
“She stood up to greet me,’ Truss told me. ‘She was clearly physically not very well, but we talked for about 20 minutes. She was alert,” Hardman writes in Elizabeth II. “‘I would say she was relieved that the thing had actually happened and that we were now moving things forward.’ “
Queen Elizabeth died on Sept. 8, 2022, at her beloved Balmoral at age 96 during the record 70th year of her royal reign. Her eldest son immediately became the new King Charles upon her death and was crowned eight months later in a coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey.
The Queen would have turned 100 later this month on April 21, and the U.K. is gearing up for festivities commemorating the anniversary of her birth.
