![A memorial to the late Queen on Piccadilly Circus after her death](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/royal-family/2023/09/07/TELEMMGLPICT000308482448_16941097017010_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqvWdfq-a34Yz0x6lFPidU76eZDX_TlUAsSQ8Q9bVPHGg.jpeg?imwidth=680)
How the Royal family will mark the first anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's death
The King, 74, will spend the day in quiet reflection at the Balmoral estate, with just the Queen by his side
![A memorial to the late Queen on Piccadilly Circus after her death](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/royal-family/2023/09/07/TELEMMGLPICT000308482448_16941097017010_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqvWdfq-a34Yz0x6lFPidU76eZDX_TlUAsSQ8Q9bVPHGg.jpeg?imwidth=680)
The first public indication that something was seriously amiss was an unusual burst of activity in the House of Commons.
Liz Truss, the then prime minister, had just sat down after giving a statement about her energy support plan. As Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer began his response, the then chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Nadhim Zahawi, slipped in next to Ms Truss and began urgently whispering in her ear.
Simultaneously, notes were passed to Sir Keir - by now in full flow - by his deputy Angela Rayner, and to the Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
MPs began to mutter.
It was shortly after midday. Members of the Royal family, then scattered across various parts of the country, were already making frantic inquiries about an emergency dash to Elizabeth II’s bedside at Balmoral Castle.
Two hours earlier, at around 10.30am, her son and heir, then still the Prince of Wales, had made the 120-mile journey by helicopter from Dumfries House to Balmoral after being alerted to his mother’s worsening condition.
Less than five hours later, he would become King.
Charles spent some time with his mother before going to forage for mushrooms on the Aberdeenshire estate.
Alone with his thoughts, he was briefly able to contemplate his imminent accession before a member of his police protection team advised him to return to the castle as the Queen’s condition had deteriorated.
His Majesty will no doubt reflect on that journey on Friday as he marks the first anniversary of her passing.
The King, 74, has chosen to spend the day in quiet reflection on the Balmoral estate, surrounded by the sweeping scenery of his mother’s beloved Highlands.
Deeply religious, he will spend time in private prayer, the Queen by his side.
The King’s siblings, the Princess Royal, the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duke of York, will also spend the day privately.
As such, it will be to the Prince and Princess of Wales that the nation turns to publicly mark the occasion with a series of official engagements.
Significantly, the couple have chosen to travel to Wales, the location of their first joint visit after being given their new titles last September and the nation to which they have vowed to dedicate more time, building trust and respect with local communities.
On Friday, the couple will attend a small, private service.
As they bow their heads in the private sanctuary of the church, the Waleses will also reflect on the events of one year ago.
The rumours that had swirled since the flurry of activity in the Commons came to pass a little over an hour later, when Buckingham Palace issued a statement confirming that the Queen was under medical supervision.
“Following further evaluation this morning, the Queen’s doctors are concerned for Her Majesty’s health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision,” it said. “The Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral.”
Close family have been informed, the palace added.
Should anyone have been under any illusion about the severity of unfolding events, BBC anchor Huw Edwards appeared on television in a black suit and tie.
At 12.46pm, Clarence House confirmed that Charles and Camilla had travelled to Balmoral, and one minute later, Kensington Palace announced that William, then-Duke of Cambridge, was also heading north.
In the midst of the drama, another family tragedy was playing out as Prince Harry, who happened to be in the UK for charity engagements, tried to reach members of his family.
Having received a call from his father to alert him to the Queen’s worsening condition, Harry texted his brother to ask whether he and his wife were flying up to Scotland.
He received no reply, and so at 1.54pm the Sussexes announced that they were heading to Balmoral.
Charles called his son again, asking him not to bring Meghan.
His choice of words remains unknown but Harry would later reveal in his memoir that he told his father: “Don’t ever speak about my wife that way.”
At 2.39pm, an RAF flight took off from RAF Northolt in west London carrying William, Andrew, Edward and Sophie.
The family was mid-air when the Queen died at 3.10pm, her two elder children, Charles and Anne, at her side.
The death certificate would give the cause of death as “old age.”
Two hours later, after a frantic but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to book a flight, Harry chartered a private flight from Luton.
The announcement of the Queen’s passing came shortly before he landed in Aberdeen.
In the 12 months since, those who were with the late monarch during her final days have revealed that she was at peace and met her maker with no regrets.
The Right Reverend Dr Iain Greenshields, then moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, spent a few days at the castle last summer.
He said he found her mentally sharp and reflective, keen to chat about her childhood, her memories of Balmoral and her faith, as well as that of her father, George VI.
Reverend Kenneth Mackenzie, minister at Crathie Kirk, the church on the Balmoral estate, and a personal chaplain to Elizabeth II, was called to the castle the day before she died.
“It was a very solemn, sad time, quite a moving time for all of us,” he said.
Two days beforehand, the late Queen had welcomed her 15th prime minister, Liz Truss, who on Thursday revealed that the monarch had remained as sharp as a tack.
“She was absolutely on top of what was happening,” Ms Truss told GB News.
“She was very, very keen to reassure me that we’d be meeting again soon. It was very important to her.”
“The assumption absolutely was that this would be the first of many meetings.”