Queen’s heartbreaking final conversation with close friend in the days before her death

Her Majesty the Queen passed away on 8 September 2022 at the age of 96, and a royal confidant has lifted the lid on her last days and the conversations she had with friends

A royal confidante has lifted the lid of the final days of Her Majesty the Queen before her death on 8 September, including some of the very last conversations she had with friends.

Gyles Brandreth, who had a close connection with the monarch and Prince Phlip, wrote about her final days at Balmoral in his book, Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait. In one excerpt, he focuses on the weekend before the Queen’s death, September 3 and 4, when she hosted the Right Reverend Dr Iain Greenshields at her Scottish retreat. “He has dinner with her on Saturday evening, gives the sermon at Braemar and Crathie Parish Church on Sunday morning, then has lunch with her on Sunday afternoon.,” he wrote.

“They talk about the Queen’s childhood, her horses, church affairs (she is ‘well up to speed’) and her sadness at what is happening in Ukraine. This is quite typical. The Queen is good at living in the present but often draws on her memories of the past, grateful for the lessons they have taught her. ‘She was so alive and so engaging,’ recalled Dr Greenshields later.”

Gyles further revealed that on Tuesday, September 6. Clive Cox, one of Her Majesty’s favourite racehorse trainers, received a call from the Queen at 10am. She had wanted to chat to him about her two-year-old, Love Affairs, who was running in the two o’clock race at Goodwood. He told the author: “We talked about the filly, how the race might pan out, how another horse of hers was doing in my stable, and about a couple of other things. She was sharp as a tack.”

That same day, the Queen went on to present her outgoing Communications Secretary with an honour, and also spent time with her 14th and 15th prime ministers. “Boris Johnson said: ‘She could not have been kinder, more sympathetic or personally encouraging.’ Moreover, she was full of ‘characteristic humour and wisdom’.”

The Queen was also photographed meeting Liz Truss, her new PM. Jane Barlow, a Press Association photographer, took the portraits of the monarch – the very final images of Her Majesty – while she waited for the Conservative Party leader to arrive at her Scottish estate. She described the Queen, 96, as “frail” but “in good spirits”. In true British style they made small talk about the gloomy weather on a day of thunderstorms and downpours. But the Queen’s mood was quite the opposite, Barlow recalled “I got a lot of smiles from her,” she recalled, adding that it had been “an honour” and “a real privilege” to take the images. I was there to photograph her meeting the new prime minister but for me the best picture was the one of the Queen on her own. And it has obviously become more significant now,” she told Sky News.