This week marked three years since the late monarch died, but now a royal insider sheds light into the final months of her life
Ravi Meah and Emma Mackenzie
12:44, 10 Sep 2025
The late Queen Elizabeth II was known for her stiff upper lip and her resolve to carry on with royal duties whatever life threw at her. No job was too big and no crisis was too troublesome for her to deal with.
And it was that same unwavering approach that Her Majesty carried with her through to her final days. September 8 marked three years since she passed away, aged 96, and she continues to be missed by both the Royal Family and the British public.
Now, a royal source has suggested that even when she was delivered some devastating news about her health, she maintained the same “keep calm and carry on” attitude.
Paul Burrell, who served as a butler for the Windsors, alleged that the physicians caring for the late Queen initially indicated she would likely not survive beyond Christmas 2021.
When the Queen’s medical team revealed in 2021 she was suffering from a type of bone marrow cancer known as multiple myeloma, and as such her time was limited, she responded with her classic stoicism.
The Queen was told she would not live beyond Christmas 2021(Image: Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
According to Burrell, her response was simple, succinct and heartfelt all the same: “Well, that’s a shame.”
The late monarch was said to have been diagnosed with her condition just weeks after she lost her beloved husband of 73 years, Prince Philip, in 2021 – two months before he would have turned 100.
Despite her restrained reaction, it was reported she was stunned to learn that the end of her life was so near. Burrell said the Queen described the timing of the news as “unfortunate… because next year is my Platinum Jubilee year and I’d quite like to have seen that”.
Nevertheless, she then asked her physicians what could be done to help her fulfil one final wish and mark the occasion with the nation at the forthcoming jubilee. Burrell claimed she said to them: “Can you keep me alive for that?”
Her dying wish was to live to see her Platinum Jubilee(Image: Steve Parsons/WPA Pool/Getty Images)
He added: “She endured blood transfusions and scrupulously followed doctors’ orders, giving up her much-loved gin and tonics, gin and Dubonnets and martinis, and instead having apple juice (and tomato juice on a Sunday as a treat) to help extend her life.
“They kept her alive to witness this landmark [Platinum Jubilee] in her reign, but she knew through it all that she was dying.”
The late Queen confounded the early predictions and did indeed live to see millions of Brits celebrating the Platinum Jubilee in 2022. Gloucester’s own residents gave their heartfelt tribute at the time by baking a large lamprey pie.
She spent her final weeks at Balmoral, with even vast numbers of household personnel oblivious to just how poorly the former sovereign truly was.