Boris Johnson's confession about Queen Elizabeth II: She knew she was going to die

In his memoir, Boris Johnson claimed that Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away in 2022, had been suffering from a form of bone cancer in her final years. In an excerpt from his book titled Unleashed, which will be published next month, the former prime minister said that the Queen had known she had a form of bone cancer for a year or longer.

This marks the first time a high-ranking British official has made a statement regarding the possible cause of the Queen's death, which was officially listed as "old age" on her death certificate. 

The Queen's health was a closely guarded secret throughout her reign, and information regarding meetings between the prime minister and the monarch was generally kept confidential.

Recalling his final meeting with Queen Elizabeth, Johnson said, "She seemed pale and more stooped, and she had dark bruising on her hands and wrists, likely from drips or injections." However, he noted that the monarch's spirit remained unaffected by her illness, and that during their conversation, her great white smile would occasionally flash with its sudden, mood-lifting beauty. In the book, he wrote that the Queen knew throughout that summer that she was going to die, but was determined to perform her final duty of overseeing the transfer of power from Johnson to his successor, Liz Truss.