The last days of Queen Elizabeth – as told by Liz Truss

At their meeting in Balmoral, the Queen had advised Liz Truss to ‘pace yourself’. ‘Maybe I should have listened,’ reflects the former PM

Liz Truss’s memoir has revealed extraordinary new details about the Queen’s final days, and about her own first 48 hours as prime minister.

From a fog-interrupted journey to Balmoral to meet the late monarch to addressing a grief-stricken public after her death, here’s how events unfolded, in the former prime minister’s own words.

The long journey to Aberdeen

Truss recalls being “impatient to get going” as she awaited a meeting with the Queen in Scotland, at which the 48-year-old would be officially confirmed as Boris Johnson’s successor.

Bad weather added to the tension, with thick fog forcing the Royal Air Force jet carrying her north from London to delay landing and circle over Aberdeen instead.

“Plans had been made. I knew what needed to be done, but the weather was against us,” Truss writes.

“All I could see were the heavy clouds beneath us as we circled over Scotland. Thick fog had rolled in around the airport in Aberdeen, preventing planes from landing, so for the moment I was stranded in mid-air … the delay was frustrating.”

Describing herself as a “woman in a hurry”, Truss says her mind was “already turning over” the in-tray awaiting her as PM.

“But before all that, I had an appointment with Her Majesty the Queen, and we were now at risk of being late or not getting there at all.

“At last, a gap in the clouds appeared, and the pilot managed to get us down on the ground. Another bumpy landing.”

Truss arrives at Balmoral

After touching down in Scotland, Truss was forced to adapt plans for onward travel to Balmoral on account of the fog.

The decision was made to abandon a quick helicopter transfer in favour of a safer, albeit slower, one-hour 15-minute drive to the royal residence.

“On arrival in Aberdeen, the plan was for me, my husband Hugh and my principal private secretary Nick Catsaras to transfer to a helicopter for a short flight to Balmoral Castle,” she writes.

“The fog made this impossible so instead we set out by road, adding yet more time to our journey.”

Truss is greeted by the Queen’s Equerry Lieutenant Colonel Tom White, left, and her private secretary Sir Edward Young as she arrives at Balmoral – Andrew Milligan

Upon arrival at Balmoral, Truss was welcomed by the Queen’s private secretary Edward Young and shown inside. “Then, alone, I was shown into Her Majesty’s drawing room.”

The greatest honour

Truss recounts being “told in advance” that the Queen had “made a special effort to be standing to greet me” as she entered the drawing room.

“She gave no hint of discomfort. She was as resolute, determined and charming as ever.

“Although I’d seen her at various Privy Council meetings and events, this was only my second one-on-one audience with her. On the previous occasion, after I had been removed from a different job in the government, she had remarked that being a woman in politics was tough.”

Queen Elizabeth stands to welcome Liz Truss – Jane Barlow/PA Wire

In full command

Describing her meeting with the 96-year-old monarch, Truss writes that the Queen appeared to have “grown frailer over the previous year” but remained “determined to carry out her constitutional duty of appointing the Prime Minister in person”.

“After I had accepted Her Majesty’s invitation to form a new government, we spent around twenty minutes discussing politics. She was completely attuned to everything that was happening, as well as being typically sharp and witty.”

Parting advice

The Queen warned the incoming PM to ready herself for the demands of the job, suggesting occupying 10 Downing Street was “incredibly ageing”.

“She also gave me two words of advice: ‘Pace yourself.’ Maybe I should have listened.”

A moment of levity

After the formalities were concluded, the Queen invited Truss’s husband into the drawing room for a brief, informal chat.

The monarch’s sense of humour and renowned people skills were on full display.

“Hugh joined us for a few minutes. She asked about our daughters and made some jokey observations about our new living quarters at Downing Street.”

Last words

Truss recalls the Queen telling her she “looked forward to our speaking again next week” before she left Balmoral to return to Westminster.

“I had no idea this meeting would be both our last and her final formal engagement as monarch,” she writes.

The first indication

Just over 24 hours after her meeting with the Queen, Truss was told the monarch would not be available to swear her new ministerial team in as she had been “advised to rest” instead.

“Having appointed my new Cabinet, my new ministers were set to be formally sworn into office, with the Queen joining remotely by video link from Balmoral.

“As we assembled in the Cabinet Office just before 6pm for the meeting, word reached us that Her Majesty would not be available, as she had been advised to rest.”

At this point the “machine kicked into action”.

“My black mourning dress was fetched from my house in Greenwich. Frantic phone calls took place with Buckingham Palace. I started to think about what on earth I was going to say if the unthinkable happened.”

The morning of the Queen’s death

The new prime minister was given an update on the Queen’s health the following morning.

“There were ongoing concerns for Her Majesty’s health and contingency plans were starting to be stepped up, but with no further comment from the palace and no clear idea how quickly things would develop, we had to press ahead with the day’s business,” Truss writes.

She attended Parliament for a debate shortly before midday, describing the chamber as “full of the usual political squabbling”.

“I was set to speak about my government’s plans to tackle energy prices, though I had begun to think about a completely different speech that it would be my duty to give. Not long after I sat down following my speech, Nadhim Zahawi, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, entered the Chamber and came to sit next to me.

“I had spoken to him earlier about his role in coordinating some of the necessary arrangements if and when Operation London Bridge [the protocol to be implemented upon the Queen’s death] kicked in, so this was clearly not a good sign.”

Truss recounts being told by Zahawi that “things were very grave indeed”, with Buckingham Palace primed to issue a statement announcing the Queen was “under medical supervision” and her doctors were “concerned” for the monarch’s health.

“Up to this moment, I had believed concerns might mount over a period of days and weeks, a drama unfolding in slow motion, but I now realised with dread that the news could come in a matter of hours. Members of the Royal family were rushing to Balmoral, and the media had recognised the significance of that. I left the House of Commons and headed back to Downing Street.”

‘Profound sadness’

Hours later, Truss’s administration received the “solemn news” that the Queen had died.

“Despite the preparations that had taken place over the previous twenty-four hours, the confirmation came as a profound shock,” she writes.

“After the frenzy of the [Conservative] leadership election and on only my second full day as Prime Minister, it seemed utterly unreal. Amid profound sadness, I found myself thinking: Why me? Why now?”

Addressing the nation

Describing the extraordinary circumstances in which she found herself shortly after assuming office, Truss admits to having been “a long way” from her comfort zone in the immediate aftermath of the Queen’s death.

“Leading the nation in mourning after the death of our beloved monarch of seventy years was not something I had ever expected to do. I had come into office determined to focus on the British economy, which was heading for a downturn, and to take the tough decisions necessary to stimulate growth and put the country back on the right track. These were challenges I instinctively relished.

“But coping with the death of the Queen was something altogether different. I had experienced a fair amount of state ceremony and protocol during my time in politics, but in truth, it was a long way from my natural comfort zone.

“Some Prime Ministers might have been better suited to the soaring rhetoric and performative statesmanship necessary in this historic moment, but I just felt a profound sense of sadness. Queen Elizabeth II had been a constant in the lives of British people for seventy years. There were few in the country who could remember a time without her.”

At 6.30pm, the news of the Queen’s passing was publically announced to the world. Shortly afterwards, Truss appeared outside 10 Downing Street to deliver an address to the nation.

Liz Truss makes a statement outside Downing Street about the Queen’s death on Thursday September 8 2022 – Alberto Pezzali/AP

“My statement tried to express the sense of loss I knew the whole country and the world were feeling. Queen Elizabeth II was, I said, ‘the rock on which modern Britain was built’. I expressed how much of an inspiration Her Majesty had been to me, as she had been to so many who grew up knowing no other monarch.

“Finally, I urged the whole country to give its loyalty and goodwill to our new sovereign, King Charles III. I ended with words that had not been heard in public for over seventy years: ‘God save the King’.”

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