After a lifetime of public service, the late queen was still preoccupied with her duty in the last days of her life, expressing concern that it would be “difficult” if she died at Balmoral, the Princess Royal has revealed.
But Elizabeth II was advised her worries “shouldn’t be part of the decision-making process”, says Anne in a documentary marking the first year of King Charles’s reign, which will be shown on Boxing Day.
Queen Elizabeth, the UK’s longest-serving monarch, died peacefully at Balmoral in Scotland on 8 September last year, aged 96, after reigning for 70 years.
Speaking about her mother, Anne says in the documentary: “I think there was a moment when she felt that it would be more difficult if she died at Balmoral. And I think we did try and persuade her that that shouldn’t be part of the decision-making process.”
With a laugh, she adds: “So I hope she felt that that was right in the end, because I think we did.”
In a BBC documentary, Charles III: The Coronation Year, to be screened on Boxing Day, Anne relays some of the late Queen’s thoughts during her last days.
Balmoral was said to be the Queen’s favourite royal residence, but knowing there were meticulous plans in place for her passing, she worried that dying in Scotland may cause added issues for those implementing the so-called London Bridge plans. Different plans were in place for each of the main royal residences, with the arrangements for Scotland given the codename Operation Unicorn.
The Princess Royal tells the film that it was “serendipity” she was at Balmoral before her mother’s death and she “weirdly felt a sense of relief” when the imperial state crown was removed from her coffin, the symbolic moment at which her role passed to Charles.
Anne describes watching as the crown jeweller, Mark Appleby, removed the crown, sceptre and orb from Queen Elizabeth’s coffin before it was lowered into the royal vault as the royal family watched.
“My mother’s funeral in St George’s, he takes the crown off the coffin – I rather weirdly felt a sense of relief, somehow that’s it, finished. That responsibility being moved on,” she says.
Shedding light on the difficulty of the period for her brother, the king, Anne says: “To be honest, I’m not sure that anybody can really prepare themselves for that kind of change … not easily. And then the change happens and you go: ‘OK, I now have to get on with it.’
“Monarchy is a 365 days a year occupation; it doesn’t stop because you change monarchs, for whatever reason.”
She also praises Queen Camilla for her “outstanding” understanding of her role as consort and the comfort it gives to Charles.
“I’ve known her a long time, off and on,” Anne says of Camilla, who is seen by Charles’s side through much of the documentary. “Her understanding of her role and how much difference it makes to the king has been absolutely outstanding, and this role is not something she would have been a natural for, but she does it really well. And she provides that change of speed and tone, she’s equally modern.”
In the documentary – which is narrated by Helena Bonham Carter and features contributions from archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, and close friends – the king is shown giving a speech at the state banquet staged in honour of Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African president, during his visit last autumn.
“It’s a big operation; the amount of entertaining is much bigger than even they recognised,” says Anne. “But I think my brother is learning things about the organisation that he perhaps was very vaguely aware of before, and he’s enjoying that, too.”
Charles III: The Coronation Year will be screened on Boxing Day at 6.50pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
