Queen Elizabeth II was persuaded by her family to choose her own comfort in her final days Princess Anne reveals in a new documentary.
In an interview for the BBC documentary Charles III: The Coronation Year, Princess Anne revealed that the late queen—who passed away on 8 September 2022—was worried that passing at Balmoral Castle deep in the Scottish Highlands would cause a headache in funerary planning.
In the clip, the royal said “I think there was a moment when she felt it would be more difficult if she died at Balmoral,” and revealed that the rest of her family “did try and persuade her that that shouldn’t be part of the decision-making process.”
“So I hope she felt that that was right in the end, because I think we did.”
Princess Anne also shared that she only happened to be at her mother’s side due to a quirk of timing—she popped into Balmoral on her way back down to England and was luckily with her mother as she passed. “It was purely serendipity that I was there,” the royal said.
Princess Anne famously followed her mother’s coffin from Balmoral to London during the initial funeral procession to bring the late Queen back to London, where she eventually was laid to rest at Windsor Castle’s St. George’s Chapel next to her beloved Prince Philip.
The funeral was held on 19 September, and Princess Anne also spoke of the poignant moment during the ceremony when St. Edward’s Crown was removed from Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin.
“When he takes the crown off the coffin, I rather weirdly felt a sense of relief. That’s it. Finished. That responsibility being moved on.”
Charles III: The Coronation Year will air on BBC1 on Boxing Day. It shares behind the scenes footage and exclusive interviews with members of the Royal Family as they navigated the death of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch and the coronation of King Charles III.
