Queen Elizabeth II delayed her death by two months to ensure a smooth transfer of power, according to former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s memoirs, as shared by The Daily Mail.
Johnson explained that in the summer of 2022, the Queen realized her health was rapidly declining and that her death was near. However, she felt there one final duty she needed to fulfill.
At the time, the UK struggled to choose a new prime minister after Johnson’s resignation in July, with a replacement not found until September.
“As Edward Young later explained to me. She had known all summer that she was going to die. But she determined to hang on to do her last duty: to oversee a peaceful and orderly transfer of power,” Johnson wrote in his memoir.