Queen’s friend thinks she died in Scotland ‘to save union’

Royalist is a newsletter from The Daily Beast about all things royal and related to the Royal Family. Sign up here to get it every Sunday in your email.

A friend of Queen Elizabeth II told The Daily Beast that the late monarch “planned to die in Scotland to save the union” between England and Scotland.

Even though the queen’s death was sudden, a friend said she knew she was “frail” and didn’t go back to Windsor Castle for the planned “kissing of hands” ceremony with incoming Prime Minister Liz Truss because she wanted to die in Scotland.

“She was frail and there was an argument that she should be back in Windsor where it is significantly easier to get hospital treatment,” the friend said. “Of course she had access to medics at Balmoral, but nothing like at Windsor. Balmoral is very isolated, but that is where she wanted to be, precisely because she thought the end might be near. She planned to die in Scotland to save the union.”

The claim comes after it was found out yesterday that the queen died on Sept. 8 at 3:10 p.m. local time, just over three hours before the public announcement of her death at 6:30 p.m., and that only King (then Prince) Charles and Princess Anne were at Balmoral at the time; the rest of the royals were on their way. On her death certificate, “old age” is listed as the reason she died.

The queen was the first British monarch to die in Scotland for almost 500 years, and her death there led to a series of ceremonial rituals in Scotland, which precipitated an outpouring of affection for the queen in the generally republican country north of the border.