A new royal biography about King CharlesIII revealed the “last pieces of unfinished business” left by the late-Queen Elizabeth II before her death in September 2022.
In Robert Hardman’s book, “Charles III: New King, New Court. The Inside Story,” the royal biographer shared how the queen’s staff discovered two private letters in one of the royal’s famous locked red boxes, the Daily Mail reported.
These red boxes typically contained daily papers from ministers around the U.K. plus documents and correspondence from representatives from the Commonwealth and around the world, People magazine noted.
One letter was for her son King Charles III, and the other letter was directed to her top aide private secretary Sir Edward Young, the author noted.
Tomorrow’s #DailyMail sees the start of an exclusive four-day serialisation of a brilliant new biography by @hardmanr ‘King Charles III’.
It reveals Queen Elizabeth’s devotion to duty to the end of her life -and the sealed letter she left her son in a locked box on her deathbed https://t.co/VXnyoSX5Ur— Rebecca English (@RE_DailyMail) January 12, 2024
“It was the last one that had gone up to the Queen before her death,” Hardman writes in the excerpt about the red box findings. “Like all red boxes, it had just two keys, one for the monarch and the other for her duty private secretary.”
“We will probably never know what they said,” he added. “However, it is clear enough that the Queen had known that the end was imminent and had planned accordingly. Were they final instructions or final farewells? Or both? Elizabeth II had been completing her own last pieces of unfinished business.”
The biographer said the late royal also left her list of candidates to join the Order of Merit — her final royal duty, the outlet noted.
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“The Queen had always taken it extremely seriously,” Hardman wrote. “The paperwork had gone up to her two days before so that she could go through the notes and tick her choices.”
“Here it was, completed and returned for Sir Edward to make the necessary arrangements,” he added. “It was the last document ever handled by Queen Elizabeth II. Even on her deathbed, there had been work to do. And she had done it.”
Also revealed in the upcoming biography is a memo from the queen’s private secretary, who was at Balmoral when she died in 2022, the Daily Mail noted.
“Very peaceful. In her sleep,” the private memo from Young read. “Slipped away. Old age. She wouldn’t have been aware of anything. No pain.”
“Charles III: New King, New Court. The Inside Story” is due out January 18, 2024.
Related: King Charles III Celebrates Late Mom Queen Elizabeth II On Anniversary Of Her Death