King Charles received a poignant message from his Private Secretary in the final hours of the Queen’s life.

Her Majesty passed away peacefully at 3:10pm on 8 September 2022 at Balmoral. Her health had taken a sudden decline 24 hours prior, and on the evening of the 7th, Princess Anne and Charles’s top aide, Sir Clive Alderton, reached out to the heir to advise him to make his way to Her Majesty’s bedside as soon as possible.

At the time, Charles was more than 150 miles away in Ayrshire on official duties. According to royal author Robert Hardman in his book, Charles III: New King. New Court , Sir Clive told the Prince: “Think how you would feel if you never said goodbye.” The next morning at 9.30am, Charles was taken by helicopter with Camilla, and then contacted Prince William, Prince Harry and his younger brothers, Andrew and Edward, and suggested they come to Balmoral.

He arrived at nearby Birkhall – his Scottish retreat – before 10.30am and borrowed a Land Rover from a staff member so he and Camilla could immediately drive to Balmoral to spend an hour at the Queen’s bedside. Local GP Dr Douglas Glass had visited again and determined Elizabeth was stable but coming towards the end of her life. One of the officials involved told Mr Hardman that it was expected to be a ‘day or two, not an hour or two’.

Sadly, Charles was not with his mother when she passed away. He had briefly stepped away from her bedside to clear his head and had gone out to gather mushrooms. He received the news that she had died as he was driving back to Balmoral when his most senior aide took a call. Charles pulled over and was addressed for the first time as ‘Your Majesty’ – signalling he was now King, Hardman wrote.

Following the death of the Queen, Sir Clive Alderton has assumed the position of the most senior aide at Buckingham Palace. As the monarch’s Private Secretary, he is responsible for supporting the King in his duties as Head of State. Described by the Royal Family as ‘the channel of communication between the Head of State and the Government’, he also liaises with the Armed Forces, the Church and the many organisations of which His Majesty is patron.

Alderton is also part of the ‘golden triangle’, which includes the cabinet secretary Simon Case and the prime minister’s principal private secretary Elizabeth Perelman. Sir Clive has been a trusted adviser to the King and Queen Camilla since 2006, a year after their marriage in 2005. He is reportedly the man behind the notorious phrase ‘some recollections may vary’ following Meghan Markle’s accusations of racism in the Firm, and is known for his love of culture, his sense of humour and his fierce intelligence. According to the Daily Mail , he’s also known in Palace corridors as a ‘hatchet man’ for his immense ability to deliver bad news.