Queen Elizabeth knew that her 96th birthday in the spring of 2022 “might be her last”, according to royal expert and friend of the Royal Family Gyles Brandreth.
Her Late Majesty celebrated her final birthday on April 21 of that year, leaving Windsor Castle behind the night before to travel to the Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
While there it is understood she stayed at Wood Hill Farm, a smaller residence in the grounds known to be beloved by her late husband, Prince Philip, who had died a year earlier.
Mr Brandreth published his biography Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait just three months after her death on September 8 2022, while she was visiting Balmoral.
In it he recalls her desire to “look back” in her final months and wonders if she perhaps knew her 96th birthday would be the last.
He said: “Towards the end of her life, the Queen did not mind looking back. She took time to look back in a personal way earlier this year (2022), sitting looking at reels of old ‘home movies’ that she and her parents had shot over the years.”
That same year the late Queen also recorded commentary for the TV documentary Elizabeth: The Unseen Queen, released in her Jubilee year, which showed never-before-seen home movies of the Firm.
The author continued: “She recorded the commentary to go with the home movies on May 19, 2022, just a month after her 96th birthday.”
Mr Brandreth added that he believes she knew her 96th birthday “may be her last”.
Queen Elizabeth said in her own words: “One of the joys of living a long life is watching one’s children, then grandchildren.
“We can’t be certain what lies ahead for them, but we should know enough to put them on the right path. We can do this if we have the good sense to learn from the experience of those who have gone before us.”
She acknowledged that the “years have slipped by so quickly” but added: “There is no point in regretting the passage of time. I have lived long enough to know that things never remain quite the same for very long. No one can make history stand still. Events change with startling speed.”
