Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson claims Queen Elizabeth II suffered from a form of bone cancer before her death.
As part of her upcoming tell-all memoir, ‘Unleashed’, Johnson recalled her last encounter with the monarch and claimed she had been aware of her condition for more than a year.
“He had known for a year or more that he had a type of bone cancer and his doctors were concerned that at any moment he could deteriorate sharply,” he writes.
“She appeared pale and more hunched over, and had dark bruises on her hands and wrists, probably from drips or injections.”
Yet despite her condition, the former prime minister recalled how sharp her mind remained in that final meeting.
Queen Elizabeth II pictured waiting in the hall before receiving the then Prime Minister Liz Truss for an audience at Balmoral. This is the last photograph taken of the late monarch before her death and was taken on September 6, 2022, the last day Boris Johnson saw her alive.
As part of her upcoming tell-all memoir, ‘Unleashed,’ Johnson said she had been aware of her condition for more than a year. Johnson is pictured meeting the Queen as the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party in 2019.
“Occasionally during our conversation, she would still flash that big white smile in her sudden mood-lifting beauty.”
The late Queen died at the age of 96 on September 8, 2022, with her time of death recorded as 3:10 p.m.
Bone cancer is considered a rare form of the disease and accounts for less than 1 percent of all cancers diagnosed each year, with only about 600 cases.
Age is considered the biggest risk factor for the disease, with people in their 80s being the most likely to be diagnosed.
Bone cancer is incredibly deadly. Only about 50 percent of patients are expected to live five years after their diagnosis.
According to the NHS, bone cancer can start in any bone in the body, but is most commonly found in the long bones of the arms and legs.
Symptoms of bone cancer include persistent bone pain that gets worse over time and continues overnight, swelling and redness over a bone, weak bones that fracture more easily, and problems moving.
Treatment, like most cancers, depends on the stage at which the cancer is detected and the patient’s overall health.
Sometimes it is possible to perform surgery to remove the cancerous bone and replace it with an artificial substitute, although amputation may be necessary.
This can also be combined with cancer treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy to directly attack the tumor.
Johnson’s comments are not the first to suggest that Queen Elizabeth II had cancer towards the end of her life.
Gyles Brandreth, a friend of Prince Philip who wrote the biography ‘Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait’, previously told the Daily Mail that the late monarch had a form of bone marrow cancer.
He wrote: “I had heard that the Queen had a form of myeloma (bone marrow cancer) which would explain her fatigue and weight loss and those “mobility problems” we were often told about during the last year of her life.”
‘The most common symptom of myeloma is bone pain, especially in the pelvis and lower back, and multiple myeloma is a disease that usually affects older people.
“There is currently no known cure, but treatment, which includes medications to help regulate the immune system and drugs that help prevent weakening of bones, can reduce the severity of symptoms and prolong a patient’s survival by months or two or three years.’
Officially, the late Queen’s death was caused by “old age” according to her death certificate.
Medically, people do not actually die of “old age,” but rather typically die in advanced years. due to another condition that is exacerbated by age or accumulation over time.
Officially, the late Queen’s death was caused by “old age” according to her death certificate. The document, which was signed by Princess Anne as an ‘informant’, also says that he died at 3.10pm. Dr Douglas James Allan Glass, the Scottish doctor mentioned in the official report, has worked for the monarchy for more than 30 years.
For example, a person may have been experiencing heart problems for years, but only as they age does the heart become so weak that the problem kills them.
While ‘old age’ may be considered to contribute to a death, official guidelines state that it should only be used as the sole cause of death in very limited circumstances.
There is no official age limit for saying someone died of “old age,” but it is generally only accepted if the person is over 80 years old.
The doctor should also have cared for the deceased for years or months and noted a general deterioration in his or her health as well as his or her functioning in daily life.
There must also be no obvious identifiable illness or injury that contributed to your death, although “old age” may be included as a contributing factor.
The final official condition for using “old age” as a cause of death is that the doctor is “certain” that there is no reason to report the death to the coroner for further investigation.
Doctors are often warned not to include “old age” as a cause of death in most circumstances.
This is because the family of the deceased may not feel that “old age” is an appropriate reason why their loved one has died.
Doctors may also need to provide evidence of their reasoning to coroners or health and social care regulators if they have reason to doubt the doctor’s decision.
Attributing deaths solely to “old age” in hospitals should also be avoided, as an older person is unlikely to be in hospital without any underlying illness or injury, so this is likely only a contributing factor.
Anyone experiencing persistent, severe or worsening bone pain should visit their GP.
While these problems are unlikely to be bone cancer, it is important to investigate them.