Late Queen ‘did not want to be seen using wheelchair’

THE late Queen Elizabeth insisted a “military-style exercise” was put in place during her Platinum Jubilee so that no one could see her using a wheelchair, a new book claims.

She reportedly “didn’t feel strong enough” to attend the final celebrations of the jubilee weekend, including making the popular balcony appearance.

However, the then Prince Charles implored his mother to attend as he felt she should acknowledge the crowds.

The claims are made in Robert Jobson’s new book Our King, currently being serialised in The Mail on Sunday and Daily Mail.

The future King was sympathetic to his mother’s increasing frailty, but encouraged her to make a “massive effort”. She agreed, on the condition no one saw she was using a wheelchair.

She was flown by helicopter from Windsor Castle to Buckingham Palace and taken by wheelchair to the doors of the balcony, according to the book.

“On her insistence, a military-style exercise was put in place so that no one could see she was having to use a wheelchair,” the book claims. “In considerable discomfort, Her Majesty was taken by wheelchair to the helicopter pad at Windsor. At the Palace, she was wheeled right up to the balcony doors, then helped to her feet so that she could stand – with the aid of a walking stick – alongside Charles and Camilla, plus William and his family.

“After a firework display, the Queen smiled with delight. It was her last salute to her people.”

Concerns had been raised that she may not appear at the final event after she missed some of the other festivities.

The Queen was unable to attend other jubilee weekend festivities after suffering discomfort, including the Epsom Derby on the Saturday and the evening’s Party at the Palace.

Palace aides were reportedly anxious for the Queen not to be photographed in a wheelchair, to avoid comparison to her late sister, Princess Margaret, pictured in one six months before she died.

The late Queen’s stoicism and commitment to her duties are also revealed in her commitment to meeting the former prime minister Liz Truss.

“The Queen’s medical advisers and members of her family had advised her to cancel the occasion,” the book claims.

“But she wouldn’t listen – ‘It’s my job’, she protested. ‘Nothing was going to stop her’, close sources confirmed, although the official meetings with Truss and the outgoing prime minister Boris Johnson ‘took an awful lot out of her’.” Buckingham Palace was approached for comment.