Do you think they knew the Queen was about to die last week?

[Goldfishmountainclimber]

Do you think that they knew that the Queen was about to die last week? It seems that they probably did on the actual day because there was some decline and Charles and Anne hurried to be with her. But they were both in Scotland at the time so reasonable handy.

But the rest of the family were not there and didn’t make it there until after her death. But maybe that was the plan so that she could die quietly and only Charles and Anne would be present, so that it didn’t draw attention and turn into a media circus.

I know it doesn’t matter, but I just wondered if it was a carefully crafted plan to give the Queen some peace at the end, or if it actually came as a bit of a surprise last week?

And she looked obviously ill 2 days before.

And she looked obviously ill 2 days before.

Sorry I don't agree.

I think she looked old and frail.

She was described as happy and smiley and walking unaided.

I'm not sure that she did.

She looked 96.

There was a photo doing the rounds a few years ago now and the queen had the same bruising on her hands, and people were discussing what it could be.
Whether it was permanent I don't know but it wasn't a new thing.

This. I also wonder if that was why she was seen wearing gloves more often over the last few years? The reason given was covid but maybe it served to hide her hands if they were discoloured.

She maybe also felt the cold in her fingers. Lots of elderly struggle with the circulation in their fingers and toes.

I've just seen Princess Anne's statement about spending the last 24 hours with her, so whilst it implies it may not have been known the end was so near on Tuesday for the PMs, it also, to me, suggests more was evident on Wednesday than perhaps previously thought.

There is is a thing called senile purpura, that causes bruising to forearms and backs of hands, caused by sun damage over many years weakening the small blood vessels in the skin, it is fairly common, my own grandfather had it, and is a more likely explanation than some of the others I've seen on here.
I think that end stage cancer is unlikely, she was just very old and people often lose weight in very old age, they lose appetite and the body doesn't digest food as efficiently etc.

The Privy Council meeting, due to be held by video link, on the Wednesday was called off because the Queen needed to rest.

So I think it's very likely that Princess Anne (indeed all her DC) would have known she was having a bad spell. But that does not mean they knew the end was near

Yes I thought this too

My mum has lost weight in her 80s and since losing my father, though her bloods are fine, it just seems to be something that happens to the elderly. If the Queen had severe joint and mobility problems, she was probably rattling with strong painkillers and they hardly enhance the appetite.

As for Princess Annes statement:
As she said "the last 24 hrs" not "her last 24 hrs" I intepreted that as Anne being glad that she had accompanied her mother all the way from Balmoral to Edinburgh and the service in St Giles .

@EdithWeston Yes that's of course also likely.

@Wbeezer Oh, I got that completely wrong then!

I don’t understand this twisting yourself into knots to try to believe she didn’t have cancer. Her hands, and you could see it up her arms also, was very evidently displaying multi organ failure due to end stage cancer, they were nearly black the heamorraghing was so severe, which is why Anne had been staying for several days before with her and Charles was also in Scotland.

cancer is not uncommon or a weird thing to have, she was clearly very Ill, not just old, she hardly made it to her own jubilee, anything for more than a few mins was cancelled or Charles stood in.

I don’t understand this twisting yourself into knots to try to believe she didn’t have cancer. Her hands, and you could see it up her arms also, was very evidently displaying multi organ failure due to end stage cancer, they were nearly black the heamorraghing was so severe, which is why Anne had been staying for several days before with her and Charles was also in Scotland.

I don't understand this twisting into knots to insist she did.

As you said before "I'm no medic but"

Anne was off at a Highland Games a few days before.

You make it up as you go along.

was very evidently displaying multi organ failure due to end stage cancer, they were nearly black the heamorraghing was so severe,

Wisteria, you literally talk as if you gave the Queen a medical last week.

If it emerges she had cancer so be it. But until then you are just are literally insisting something you do not know.

Someone with end stage bone cancer would be in extreme pain or else completely out of it on morphine, and someone with multi-organ failure and extreme cancer pain wouldn't be standing around chatting cheerfully to the photographer and both PMs. If they were even able to stand they would keep interactions to an absolute minimum.

I don’t understand this twisting yourself into knots to try to believe she didn’t have cancer. Her hands, and you could see it up her arms also, was very evidently displaying multi organ failure due to end stage cancer, they were nearly black the heamorraghing was so severe, which is why Anne had been staying for several days before with her and Charles was also in Scotland.

Having checked the photo, we can see that this is simply not true. Her hands are not "nearly black" and her wrist is a perfectly normal skin colour.

Someone with end stage bone cancer would be in extreme pain or else completely out of it on morphine, and someone with multi-organ failure and extreme cancer pain wouldn't be standing around chatting cheerfully to the photographer and both PMs. If they were even able to stand they would keep interactions to an absolute minimum.

I agree. it's @Wisteriaroundthedoor who is insisting on diagnosing the Queen.

She could be part of the medical team. 😉

I don't believe for one minute a 96 year old woman with end stage cancer and organ failure was up and about just before she died. If she wasn't in too much pain to stand then she'd be out of it with drugs to stop the pain. Also she would have had bones breaking.

She was old and frail. My nana is 95 and has suddenly lost a lot of weight and become very frail. It happens at this age. Frailty is a syndrome not just a description, it involves weight loss and immobility and the decline can be rapid.
She was 96 years old, that was not end stage cancer.

Sorry for your loss. Nanas are special aren't they we're going through this with my nana now. She's 95 and frail, weight loss, mobility declining and had falls due to uti's and ended up in hospital four times now. She's aged so fast it's like she's a different person.

@Wisteriaroundthedoor old age is listed as a cause of death on death certificates you know. There is an element of each person having their likely lifespan genetically encoded, ie at an age determined by genes (length of telemeres) the bodies tissues and organs stop being repaired properly and at a certain point enough things stop working well enough that you just die, it can be fast or slow depending on which organ fails.
My Dad explained this to me, he was a GP who also worked in a Hospice and has certified many many deaths of old people.

H op ə İ havent made my dear Dad sound like Harold Shipman!

No not at all. It makes perfect sense when you think about it. Everything slows and stops eventually I suppose like a machine.
Thanks for the explanation.

Often thought that' why so many old people have diagnoses of cancer that they die with, rather than of.

My great aunt was diagnosed with a mass in her breast in her nineties but lived until she was 102, and she never received any cancer treatment, she had dementia and opiate pain relief for other stuff (joint and mobility issues), I don't think the doctor even worried much about the tumour.

I suppose that if healthy cells are not multiplying in very old bodies, cancer cells aren't either.