Queen Elizabeth II fought bone marrow cancer during her final years, claims new book

Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest reigning monarch, was “battling cancer” during the final few years of her life, a report said.

The 96-year-old monarch died in Scotland on September 8 after battling health problems. She was surrounded by her family in her final moments.

Now a new biography, written by Gyles Brandreth, a friend of Prince Philip, has claimed that Queen Elizabeth was battling a form of bone marrow cancer although the official cause of the monarch’s death was listed as old age.

“I had heard that the Queen had a form of myeloma — bone marrow cancer — which 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,” Brandreth wrote in the biography. Myeloma’s most prevalent symptom is bone pain, particularly in the pelvis and lower back, and multiple myeloma is a disease that primarily affects the elderly.

The Queen often experienced mobility problems during the final period of her life, used a walking stick regularly in public and withdrew from official duties.

The new book also claimed that Queen Elizabeth suffered “periods of low energy” after Prince Philip’s death in April last year and often kept herself busy with a BBC show when she felt weaker.

The remarks on Queen Elizabeth’s health were made in the book ‘Elizabeth: An Intimate portrait’ that also claimed that bone pain was the most prevalent symptom during the monarch’s last few years.

The second Elizabethan age was symbolically brought to a close when the highest-ranking official in the royal household broke his wand of office and the Imperial State Crown, orb and sceptre were placed on the high altar on September 19. Prince Charles is Britain’s new King.