It was disclosed yesterday that the Queen passed away in Balmoral from “old age,” marking the first time a monarch’s death certificate is thought to have been made public.
However, as information on it revealed that Prince Harry was not told of his grandmother’s death for more than three hours, the paper also raises interesting issues.
Only her two oldest children, King Charles and Princess Anne, were there when she passed away on September 8 at 3:10 pm. Prince Andrew, Prince William, Prince Edward, and his wife, Sophie, were all traveling to Scotland at the time and are said to have received the news in midair.
In contrast, Prince Harry had not even reached an airport due to what seemed to be uncertainty on whether he should accompany his wife Meghan up to Aberdeenshire. At 5.35 p.m., he eventually boarded a private plane from Luton, which landed in Aberdeen at 6.47 p.m.
Palace insiders have previously revealed that his father was only able to speak with his son in midair at 6.25 p.m., or five minutes before the news everyone had been waiting to hear was released.
Before any formal announcement was made public by Buckingham Palace, Charles had demanded all afternoon that his youngest son be informed personally.
He had already called William and Harry earlier in the day to urge them to go for Scotland as soon as possible since their grandma was deteriorating badly. He went back to the Queen’s bedside after that.
However, it still leaves a key gap of two hours and 25 minutes between the passing of the Queen and Harry’s takeoff, during which it seems there was no contact between the prince and his family.
On the other hand, Liz Truss, the prime minister, was told at 4.30 pm. Last night, representatives of the palace refused to comment, and other royal sources were unable to shed any light on the contradiction. However, sources emphasized that the traditional King does not own a cell phone and that conversations between him and his family often need to be “booked in.”
To attempt to reach him urgently, family members are forced to phone employees or perhaps one of his police bodyguards.
Others said that the King probably intended to notify his son directly but ran out of time as the deadline for the publication of an official proclamation approached.
According to sources with firsthand knowledge of Operation London Bridge, the plan to handle the aftermath of Queen’s death, there would have been a significant amount of administrative work in addition to dealing with the situation’s inevitable sadness.
As with everything else, I’m sure there is a careful plan in writing, but the chaos of real life occurs within the anguish of their own bereavement, remarked one.
According to a different source, “few members in the family” now routinely communicate with Harry, and he may also be “very hard to contact.”
Whatever the case, it demonstrates the nuanced nature of Harry’s connection with the Royal Family, as seen by the fact that, the morning after his grandmother passed away, he boarded the first flight out of Aberdeen and left Balmoral.
He stayed in the UK until the day following the funeral and made public appearances at both the funeral ceremony and a walkabout with his brother and their spouses at Windsor. He was seen there as well.
It was discovered that the aircraft carrying Edward, Andrew, and William up to Scotland was delayed by an hour, raising the prospect of family strife in the background. Although it was supposed to leave at 1.30, it didn’t till 2.39.
That day, just before 2 p.m., a Sussex family representative said that Harry and Meghan would be traveling to Scotland together.
Other than the Countess of Wessex and Princess Anne’s husband Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, to whom the Queen was close, only close family members would be anticipated to be there. The three children of Kate and William’s then-couple elected to remain in Windsor.
Only Harry planned to go, according to a revision made by the Sussexes 30 minutes after their first statement. Later, the difference was passed off as a “error.”
At an estimated cost of £30,000, Harry’s crew hastily leased a private plane from Luton. The Sun then said that Harry missed the RAF trip because of a “row over Meghan,” following his father’s advice that it wasn’t “proper” for him to accompany her.
It has also been said that Charles attempted to telephone his son to inform him that his grandma had passed away, but the call was not successful. Even though Harry was aware that his father was attempting to communicate with him, the prince reportedly viewed a breaking news story online before they were able to use the technology to converse.
A spokesperson for the King has insisted that the news of the Queen’s death “was not made until all family members had been notified,” contradicting the palace, which has denied this.
Paul Lowe, the Scottish Registrar General, ultimately made the Queen’s death certificate public precisely three weeks to the day after she passed away. It must be registered within eight days as required by law. According to the death certificate, 96-year-old widow Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor passed away at Balmoral Castle in Ballater, Aberdeenshire.
It cites Windsor Castle as her primary home and “Her Majesty The Queen” as her line of work.
Douglas James Allan Glass was the licensed medical professional who certified the procedure. Since 1998, he has served as Her Majesty’s Household’s apothecary at Balmoral.
The doctor, a general practitioner in the nearby town of Braemar, told The Times that he saw her death and that it was “not unexpected.” We have been worried about the Queen’s health for a while, he remarked.
Old age was cited as the reason of death, the same as it was for Prince Philip in April 2021. Although there are few exceptions, including when the certifying doctor physically cared for the dead over a lengthy period of time and saw a slow deterioration, it shouldn’t be listed as the only reason in Scotland.