Queen Elizabeth undertakes her last public duty — welcoming Prime Minister Liz Truss to Balmoral on Sept. 6, 2022.Photo:Jane Barlow - WPA Pool/Getty
Jane Barlow - WPA Pool/Getty
The royal family persuaded the lateQueen Elizabeththat she should stay atBalmoral Castlewhen she became seriously ill.
The Queendied at her beloved Scottish homeon September 8, 2022 – with her daughterPrincess Anneat her bedside.
In a new documentary, Anne recounts how the Queen worried that it would be more complicated for others if she passed away there. In the upcoming specialCharles III: The Coronation Year, which airs on BBC and iPlayer on Dec. 26, the Princess Royal says the family argued that practical issues like that shouldn’t be her concern.
“I think there was a moment when she felt it would be more difficult if she died at Balmoral. I think we did try to persuade her that that shouldn’t be part of the decision-making process,” Anne tells the documentary, according toThe Daily Telegraph. “So I hope she felt that was right in the end, because we did.”
Sources told PEOPLE at the time of the late Queen’s death that it had been fitting that she spend her last hours at Balmoral because it was such a special place for her and her family.
Princess Anne at Queen Elizabeth’s funeral in September 2022.Martin Meissner - Pool/Getty
And Princess Anne, 73, reiterates what a special place Balmoral is for the family.
“We spent a lot of time there in our youth and a lot of it was probably a more independent life than anywhere else,” she says.
In a poignant moment in the upcoming special, the Princess Royal describes how she felt when the crown jeweler removed theImperial State Crownfrom her mother’s coffin, signifying how leadership now passed to her elder brother,King Charles.
“When he takes the crown off the coffin, I rather weirdly felt a sense of relief," she says. “Somehow that’s it, finished. That responsibility being moved on.”
The last portrait of Queen Elizabeth, taken at Balmoral Castle on Sept. 6, 2022.Jane Barlow - WPA Pool/Getty
Speaking of her brother, who became King upon their mother’s death on Sept. 8, she added, “To be honest, I’m not sure that anybody can really prepare themselves for that kind of change, at least not easily. And then the change happens and you go: ‘OK, I now need to get on with it.’ ”
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King Charles and his sister Princess Anne on coronation day, May 6, 2023.Chris Jackson/Getty
Chris Jackson/Getty
“When I thought back to being 2 years old and watching the [the late Queen Elizabeth’s] coronation on a tiny black and white television and there goes this golden coach with my sister in it,” she says in the documentary. “I can’t explain the feeling because it’s so surreal. This cannot be happening. It was quite a moment.”
Charles III: The Coronation Yearpremieres on BBC One and iPlayer on Dec. 26.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla travel in the Diamond Jubilee Coach to their coronation at Westminster Abbey on May 6.Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
source: people.com
