Prince William and Kate Middleton share emotional family message on anniversary of the Queen's death

8 September 2023, 10:48

Duke of Sussex speaks about Queen Elizabeth II on anniversary of her death during speech at WellChild Awards

By Alice Dear

The Queen is being remembered by Prince William and Kate Princess of Wales, alongside the rest of the Royal Family, on the anniversary of her death.

The Prince and Princess of Wales have marked the one year anniversary of the Queen's death with a personal message from themselves and their three children; Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis.

Prince William, 41, and Kate Middleton, 41, wrote that they and the royal children would be remembering "the extraordinary life and legacy" of the late Monarch.

Queen Elizabeth II died on 8th September 2022 at Balmoral Castle at the age of 96-years-old following months of poor health.

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William, Kate, George, Charlotte and Louis remembered the grandmother and great-grandmother at her State Funeral, held on the 19th September 2022 at Westminster Abbey, and are now reflecting on her reign and impact one year on.

The royal couple shared three images on their social media; one of the Queen at an official royal engagement from 2015, a personal picture of Her Majesty with some of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and a third of the Royal Family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Captioning the images, William and Kate wrote: "Today we remember the extraordinary life and legacy of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth. We all miss you. W & C."

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Meanwhile, King Charles has marked the anniversary of his mother's death with a moving video which he can be heard speaking over.

The Monarch, who acceded the throne last year at the time of the Queen's passing, can be heard saying: "In marking the first anniversary of Her late Majesty's death and my accession, we recall with great affection her long life, devoted service and all she meant to so many of us."

The King adds: "I am deeply grateful, too, for the love and support that has been shown to my wife and myself during this year as we do our utmost to be of service to you all."

One of the images used in the video is a previously unseen photograph of the Queen from a portrait sitting in 1968, she was 42-years-old at the time.

Queen Elizabeth II died on 8th September 2022 at Balmoral Castle, with the death certificate stating that Her Majesty passed away at 3:10pm.

King Charles and Queen Camilla travelled to Balmoral ahead of the late Queen's passing, with Prince William, Prince Harry, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward all arriving at different times throughout the day.

At 6:30pm, the Palace announced the passing of the Queen in a statement which read: "The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon."

According to the Queen's death certificate, the Monarch died of "old age", this was given by Dr Douglas Glass, her official apothecary in Scotland.

Royal Biographer and close friend to the Royal Family Gyles Brandreth, later revealed in his book Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait that Her Majesty had bone marrow cancer before her death.

The extract from the book reads: "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."

Read more:

• Last picture of the Queen: Details of the historic image revealed
• Queen Elizabeth death anniversary: How the royal family are remembering the late monarch
• How old was the Queen when she died and what did she die of?