Queen was 'absolutely on it' at last meeting two days before her death, says Boris Johnson
13 September 2022, 11:04
Boris Johnson has described his final meeting with the Queen just two days prior to her death.
The former Prime Minister said she was ‘absolutely on it’ despite appearing ill and frail during their meeting.
Mr Johnson said she was ‘actively focused’ on both world and UK politics but was ‘clearly not well’ at the time of their meeting.
Last Tuesday Mr Johnson met the Queen as he tendered his resignation as Prime Minister. Two days later she died, aged 96 at the castle in Scotland.
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As part of a series of interviews with former Prime Ministers, Boris Johnson said: “The last audience I had with her – one of the reasons why it was so shocking to hear about her death was because, in that audience, she had been absolutely on it just two days before her death.
“And she was actively focused on geopolitics, on UK politics, quoting statesmen from the 50s – it was quite extraordinary.”
Asked whether the Queen “seem[ed] well”, he added: “She seemed very bright, very focused – look, I’m – she was clearly not well.
“And that was the thing that I found so moving when I – we – all heard about her death two days later. I just thought how incredible that her sense of duty had kept her going in the way that it had.”
He told the BBC that it was a “pretty emotional time” when he heard of her death.
