Queen Elizabeth II's Bone Cancer Diagnosis Confirmed by Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson
New details have emerged regarding the health battle Queen Elizabeth II faced in the years leading up to her death at age 96.
In his upcoming memoir, Unleashed, former United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson recalled the late British monarch's final moments more than two years after the queen passed away peacefully on September 88, 2022, which marked the end of her historic 70-year reign.
Boris had the opportunity to meet with Queen Elizabeth just two days before she died, admitting he was informed by Her Majesty's private secretary, Edward Young, that her health had "gone down quite a bit over the summer" prior to their final meeting.
"I had known for a year or more that she had a form of bone cancer, and her doctors were worried that at any time she could enter a sharp decline," the former prime minister alleged in an excerpt of his book obtained by a news publication.
"She seemed pale and more stooped, and she had dark bruising on her hands and wrists, probably from drips or injections," he described regarding his final memory of Queen Elizabeth. "But her mind – as Edward had also said – was completely unimpaired by her illness, and from time to time in our conversation she still flashed that great white smile in its sudden mood-lifting beauty."
It was during Boris and Elizabeth's final interaction that the former Conservative Party leader officially resigned from his position. He was the 14th prime minister to hold the government position during the seven decades Elizabeth ruled the throne.
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Boris claimed the late British monarch "had known all summer that she was going, but was determined to hang on and do her last duty," which was overseeing the "peaceful and orderly transition" of power from him to his successor, Liz Truss.
It was also during his last meeting with the queen that Elizabeth gave the former Mayor of London one last "crucial" piece of advice.
"'There’s no point in bitterness,' she said, and amen to that. If everyone in politics – and life – could see that as clearly as she did, the world would be a much, much happier place," he shared.
Queen Elizabeth's apparent bone cancer diagnosis was previously revealed by royal author Gyles Brandreth in his book Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait, released three months after Her Majesty's passing.
Gyles claimed Queen Elizabeth was fighting a rare form of the bone marrow cancer myeloma, detailing how the disease "would explain her tiredness and weight loss and those 'mobility issues' we were often told about during the last year or so of her life."
The royal family has not disclosed the queen's exact medical history, only recording her public cause of death as "old age."
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Daily Mail obtained an excerpt from Boris' memoir.