In just a few short words, she summed up her entire duty to the Crown
Queen Elizabeth’s Final Diary Entry Before Her Death Was Surprisingly Simple
Published on Nov. 15, 2024
Just two days before her passing on Sept. 8, 2022, at the age of 96, Queen Elizabeth II picked up her diary, as she had done countless times before, to write what would be her very last entry. She recorded a mere five words that have remained unknown until now. While this journal is typically kept private, its contents were recently brought to light by royal biographer Robert Hardman while updating his book Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story. And this final journal entry reveals quite a bit about the late monarch.
Even though Elizabeth had been on the throne for more than 70 years, she maintained an air of mystery. Always stoic, she didn’t air her dirty laundry in public or reveal her innermost thoughts to the masses. But of course, a person’s diary is a different story.
So what tidbits did she jot down before her death? And what did it reveal about her final days as queen? Read on to find out.
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What did Queen Elizabeth’s final diary entry say?
If you’re looking for a revelation about the queen’s deepest thoughts, emotions or confessions, you won’t find it here. True to form, her final diary entry was “factual and practical,” says Hardman. Made up of just five words, it read: “Edward came to see me.”
The Edward in question is Sir Edward Young, Elizabeth’s private secretary. He likely met with her that day to discuss the swearing-in of council members for the newly elected prime minister, Liz Truss.
How was this different from her usual journal entries?
It wasn’t all that different! This final entry had a similar tone to other journal entries—straightforward and to the point. Her “diary” was not colored with emotions and personal thoughts. Instead, it documented her daily activities, both to jog her memory of important events and to serve as a historical record. She reportedly once said, “I have no time to record conversations, only events.”
While this entry was likely shorter than usual, it shows just how normal the days before the queen’s death were. “It transpires that she was still writing at Balmoral two days before her death,” Hardman writes in Charles III. “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.”
How did Queen Elizabeth spend her final days?
Before her passing, Elizabeth spent her days doing business as usual. As noted above, she met with the prime minister two days before her death, on Sept. 6. “She was very, very keen to reassure me that we’d be meeting again soon. … It was very important to her,” Truss later said of the meeting. “She was absolutely on top of what was happening. Although she was physically quite frail, she was absolutely mentally alert.”
However, her health soon took a turn for the worse. A virtual privy council meeting scheduled for the following day was postponed on the advice of her doctors, and she passed away the day after that, on Sept. 8, at 3:10 p.m. local time.
This all happened at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, thought to be the queen’s favorite royal residence and the place where she spent summer holidays and much of her time in her later years. “Scotland has always had a uniquely special place in the hearts of my family and myself,” King Charles said in honor of the Scottish parliament’s 25th anniversary in September 2024. “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.”
Ultimately, Elizabeth’s mission was to serve the Crown, and that’s exactly what she did up until her last day.
What have other British monarchs recorded in their diaries?
Elizabeth wasn’t the first monarch, nor the last, to document her days in a diary. In fact, the British royals have jotted down their experiences for more than a thousand years. That said, Queen Victoria (Elizabeth’s great-great-grandmother) was the most prolific writer of them all—completing 141 volumes of diaries over the course of her 63-year reign. “I shall do my utmost to fulfill my duty towards my country,” she wrote in one journal.
And yes, King Charles also keeps a factual journal. However, according to Hardman, the style of Charles’s journal entries has changed significantly over the years. He says it is “not quite as self-analytical, humorous and readable as the journal he kept as a prince.”
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Sources:
- The Telegraph: “Elizabeth II’s final diary entry revealed”
- The Guardian: “The day Queen Elizabeth died: the inside story of her final hours”
- People: “King Charles Says Queen Elizabeth ‘Chose to Spend Her Final Days’ in Scotland: ‘Most Beloved of Places'”
- Independent: “Late Queen told Liz Truss they would ‘meet again soon’ two days before she died”
- Royal.uk: “Royal Archives”
- Royal.uk: “Victoria”
