Queen Elizabeth II was writing daily entries in her personal diary right up until her death.
According to royal writer Robert Hardman in his updated biography, Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story, on September 6, 2022, two days before she died, the Queen wrote in her personal journal, “Edward came to see me.”
She jotted this note down while stationed in her beloved Balmoral, located in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where she chose to spend her final days until her passing on September 8, 2022. The monarch was referring to her private secretary Sir Edward Young, who at the time was helping her to make arrangements for the swearing-in of former Prime Minister Liz Truss.
Truss, 49, was the shortest-serving prime minister in British history, stepping down from her position in October 2022 after just one month in office. Queen Elizabeth appointed Truss in September from Balmoral, which was her late Majesty’s final public engagement before her death at 96.
“It transpires that she was still writing it at Balmoral two days before her death,” Hardman wrote in his biography, as reported by the Telegraph. “Her last entry was as practical as ever.”
Hardman wrote in his book, “It could have been describing another normal working day starting in the usual way — ‘Edward came to see me’ — as she noted the arrangements which her private secretary, Sir Edward Young, had made for the swearing-in of the new ministers of the Truss administration.”
Elizabeth became queen at the age of 25 in 1952 following the death of her father, King George, and went on to become the longest-reigning and longest-lived British monarch. Since the start of her reign, the queen kept a factual diary in which she wrote down the day’s events before turning in for the evening.
According to Hardman’s biography, King Charles III is keeping his mother’s tradition of daily diary entries alive by writing down a practical account of the day’s activities. “He doesn’t write great narrative diaries like he used to,” a senior courtier said of the king’s diary-keeping habits, adding that the monarch “scribbles down his recollections and reflections” from the day.
Charles, 75, has not publicly spoken much about his mother since her death, though he did bring her up in a recent speech delivered to Scottish Parliament on September 29. “My late mother especially treasured the time spent at Balmoral, and it was there, in the most beloved of places, where she chose to spend her final days,” he said.
The king broke royal tradition earlier this year by opening Balmoral Castle to the public for the first time in history, with tours scheduled throughout the summer until early August.
