A New Royal Book Reveals the Late Queen Elizabeth II Left a Final Token for King Charles III

In the days leading up to Queen Elizabeth II’s passing, various members of the British royal family privately prepared for an abundant loss and the next chapter of the monarchy. While many aspects of the royal family’s mourning and Queen Elizabeth’s final days have long been kept private, a new royal book provides fresh insight into the long-reigning sovereign’s final days. An excerpt from The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy reveals the final token Queen Elizabeth left for her son and heir, King Charles.

Prior to her death, Queen Elizabeth left two letters in the monarch’s famous red box, according to an excerpt of The Making of a King published in the Daily Mail via People. “It was the last one that had gone up to the Queen before her death,” author Robert Hardman writes in the book. “Like all red boxes, it had just two keys, one for the monarch and the other for her duty private secretary.”

The cast of The Crown experienced an eerie coincidence while filming the final season. Find out how their shooting schedule aligned with the palace's 10-day period of mourning for Queen Elizabeth II. https://t.co/1zmPqGiir7

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Upon opening the box, the queen’s private secretary, Sir Edward Young, found two sealed letters: one addressed to him and another addressed to then Prince Charles. “We will probably never know what they said. However, it is clear enough that the Queen had known that the end was imminent and had planned accordingly,” Hardman writes. “Were they final instructions or final farewells? Or both? Elizabeth II had been completing her own last pieces of unfinished business.”

As Hardman notes, we could spend days speculating what the late Queen Elizabeth wrote in the letter to her eldest son prior to her passing. But what it represents, from an outsider’s perspective, is an indication of a bond between a mother and son and the importance of the queen and future king’s connection. Yes, it was a small token, but we can only imagine that it likely meant the world to its recipient.

Before you go, click here to see more photos of the British royal family at Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.