King Charles was searching for wild mushrooms at the moment his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, died, and he did not inform his son, Prince Harry, of her death before the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) announced the news.
new book, Charles III: New King, New Court. The story from the inside Royal biographer Robert Hardman, detailing the Queen's final hours, says that although Charles knew his mother was dying, he miscalculated how long he had left to live, hence his decision to go mushroom hunting in the woods surrounding her home in Balmoral, Scotland. . While her life receded.
Hardman says the same lack of intense urgency characterized his communications with his sons Prince William and Harry on September 8, 2022. Although he called his sons and urged them to travel to Scotland, he did so under the impression that the Queen “had days, not hours, to live.”
It was previously claimed in a book by royal author Robert Jobson that Charles went to collect mushrooms but was summoned back to Balmoral and… He reached his mother's bed Just in time to be with her when she died.
However, according to the new schedule I posted daily Mail, which is serializing Hardman's book this weekend, Charles had gone out into a nearby forest “to gather mushrooms and clear his head” and “received news of her death while driving back to Balmoral when a senior aide received a phone call”. “
the mail He says Charles stopped to answer the call, and that's when “Charles was first addressed as 'Your Majesty' before calmly starting the car and driving off.”
The Daily Beast previously reported how the Queen's death “stunned her family… greatly,” with a family friend saying: “Everyone knew, intellectually, that she could die at any moment, but on Wednesday no one expected her to die.” “. To die on Thursday.”
Hardman reveals that Charles and Queen Camilla spent an hour with Queen Elizabeth before she died.
Hardman's book also confirms long-standing rumors that the Queen's dress designer, Angela Kelly, was by her side in her final hours, alternating with her daughter, Princess Anne, and “the Reverend Kenneth MacKenzie, the long-serving minister of nearby Crathie Kirk, who read to her from the Bible.”
Kelly, the dockworker's daughter who rose to become one of the Queen's most trusted confidants, was quickly expelled from the royal circle by Charles, who did not share his mother's love for her, after the Queen's death.
Queen Elizabeth waits in the drawing room before receiving an audience from Liz Truss, where she calls on the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party to become prime minister and form a new government, at Balmoral Castle, Scotland, Britain, September 6, 2022.
Jane Barlow/Pool via Reuters
The new book also confirms what Prince Harry said in his book, additionalWho said he learned of the Queen's death from a news alert on his phone while landing at Aberdeen Airport, rather than hearing directly from his father, the palace said. He insisted at the time. Harry landed at 6.47pm, 17 minutes after the official announcement was made.
“The King repeatedly tried to call his youngest son to tell him the news in person, but Harry was already in the air and unable to connect,” Hardman writes.
The suspicions of those who believe Harry did not get the information as timely as he could have persisted, given that the time of the Queen's death was officially recorded as 3.10pm, and that Prime Minister Liz Truss was told the news at 4.30pm. , and Harry's privately chartered plane It didn't take off until 5.35pm.
The Daily Beast has contacted Charles and Harry's offices for comment on this case. A source previously told The Daily Beast that the Queen's actual time of death was 2.37pm, and this may not conflict with the time recorded on the death certificate, as the official time of death is determined when a medical certificate is presented.
the mail The new book “boasts unrivaled access to the Royal Family, their close friends, their staff past and present, senior politicians, and never-before-seen papers in the Royal Archives,” it says.
One example of such papers is a note written by Sir Edward Young, Queen Elizabeth's private secretary, who was at Balmoral when she died, in which he said of her death: “Very peaceful. In her sleep. Slipped away. Old. She would not have been aware of anything . no pain.”
The book also claims that she left two sealed letters in a locked box next to her bed, one addressed to Charles and the other to Young.
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