Queen Elizabeth did not want to go to Scotland because death there would have made the funeral difficult. It was traditional for the ruler to spend the summer holidays at Balmoral Castle. But as she grew older and had difficulty getting around, she feared that she would die far away from London, which later happened. After seventy years on the throne, Elizabeth II died on September 8, 2022 at Balmoral, the most popular of her residences. After a life of public service, the Queen still feared that the implementation of Operation London Bridge, the plan for what happens after the death of a ruler, would become “more complicated”. This “concern” of the Queen is expressed by her daughter, Princess Anne, in the documentary “Charles III: the Coronation Year”, the documentary celebrating the first year of the new ruler's reign and broadcast on Boxing Day by the BBC, the British television audience.
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“We told the queen that her concerns should not be part of the decision-making process,” says Anna. “I think there was a moment when she felt things would be more difficult if she died at Balmoral. We calmed her down. In fact, the royal family and government had drawn up different plans for each of the main royal residences and everything was ready wherever the monarch died. The royal princess recalls in the documentary that before her mother's death she was at Balmoral almost by chance because she was returning from a trip to Scotland and before returning to London she decided to stop at the manor house “for the sake of convenience.” The queen had found them. Anna was therefore the only one of Elizabeth's four children who was present at her death. Carlo came later. The princess, she says in the documentary, felt a sense of relief when the state crown was removed from the coffin, the symbolic moment in which the role passed from her to the new monarch Charles III. passed over. It was the jeweler of the royal house Mark Appleby who was supposed to remove the crown, scepter and orb from the bier before Elizabeth was buried in the crypt of Windsor Chapel.
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“I thought: It’s finished. Now the responsibility is transferred to others,” emphasizes Anna. “Honestly, I’m not sure anyone can really prepare for a change like this, at least not that easily. But changes happen and we must move forward. Monarchy is a job.” that lasts 365 days a year; it does not stop because a sovereign changes without cause.”
The princess also praises Charles' wife, Camilla Parker-Bowles, for her “extraordinary understanding of the role” and for “the comfort she gives Charles.” He added: “I’ve known her for a long time. She handles this role really well. And it provides variety in tempo and tone, it is modern.” “The burden of leading a nation is much greater than they themselves realized,” says Anna. “But I think my brother is learning things about the organization that he may have only vaguely known about before.”