Queen Elizabeth II Left Behind Letters On Deathbed

Prior to her death, Queen Elizabeth II wrote two private letters, one for King Charles, and one for her top aide.

Part of royal biographer Robert Hardman's book, 'The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy,' he describes how staff found two letters left behind by the late Queen after her death. 

Following her death at Balmoral Castle, senior staff were planning the days ahead when a footman brought them one of the Queen's famous red boxes. 

The red box is the daily dispatch of papers from ministers around the UK, and sometimes there's documents and correspondence from representatives from the Commonwealth and other countries around the world. 

“It was the last one that had gone up to the Queen before her death. Like all red boxes, it had just two keys, one for the monarch and the other for her duty private secretary.”

Inside the box, a sealed letter to Prince Charles was left, as well as a private letter to her top aide. 

“We will probably never know what they said. 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.”

She also left behind her list of candidates to join the order of Merit, which was her final royal duty. 

“The Queen had always taken it extremely seriously. 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. 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.”