Queen was ‘clearly not well but absolutely on it’ at our last meeting two days before her death, says Boris Johnson
THE Queen was “so bright and focused” but “clearly not well” just two days before her death, Boris Johnson has revealed.
The ex-PM met with royal last Tuesday at Balmoral to formally resign before she died peacefully at the age of 96 on Thursday.
Mr Johnson has told how the monarch was “absolutely on it” as she met with him and his successor Liz Truss.
The Queen was pictured beaming as she met with the new PM before her death was announced little more than 48 hours later.
Mr Johnson told the BBC he found her passing “shocking” given how “bright” she had been two days prior.
He said: “The last audience I had with her – one of the reasons it was so shocking on the 8th, to hear about her death – was because in that audience, she had been absolutely on it.
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“Just two days before her death. She was actively focused on geopolitics, on UK politics, quoting statesmen from the 1950s, it was quite extraordinary.
“She seemed very bright, very focused.”
Mr Johnson did reflect, however, that the Queen was “clearly not well”.
He added: “I think that was the thing that I found so moving when I heard about her death, when we all heard about her death on Thursday, two days later.
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“I just thought how incredible that her sense of duty had kept her going in the way that it had.
“Given how ill she obviously was, how amazing that she should be so bright and so focused. So it was a pretty emotional time.”
The Queen spent her final days at Balmoral having fun with family, reading the Racing Post and watching TV with staff.
Right up until her death the Queen welcomed visitors who kept her company.
The last weekend before she died Dr Iain Greenshields, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, stayed with her at the castle.
He said she was in “really good spirits” and told how he was moved by how she spoke about her beloved Prince Philip.
They had dinner together on Saturday and lunch on Sunday – and even eerily brushed on the subject of afterlife.
And he said the Queen seemed to be delighted to be spending time at her beloved highland home.
He said: “In conversation with her, she took me over to the window and she was looking over her gardens with great pride and affection.
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“And I think that’s where she would have wanted to spend her last days and I would think the family are comforted by that.”
She then went on to “reflect on life” as they discussed her faith and the afterlife.