The final photo of Her Majesty the Queen was taken just two days before her death in September 2022 – and it contained a touching tribute to her late husband Philip
The very last photo of the late Queen contained a hidden tribute to her husband, Prince Philip – but it went largely unnoticed.
The image in question was taken on 6 September 2022, just two days before Her Majesty passed away. It was captured in the Drawing Room at Balmoral, her royal residence in Aberdeenshire, and captured what would prove to be the Queen’s final public duty — appointing Liz Truss as prime minister. Photographer Jane Barlow took two solo shots of the monarch, in which she could be seen smiling brightly before a fireplace. Dressed in a tartan skirt and wearing a cardigan, the Queen carried her black handbag and also used a cane. And it was the cane that proved especially poignant.
Author Omid Scobie wrote about the Queen’s final days in his book, Endgame. He revealed that when Boris Johnson resigned as Prime Minister and Liz Truss took his place, royal aides suggested that Charles invite Truss to form a new government, given the “crippling pain” the late Queen was in. However, the late Queen “defiantly” refused the suggestion. “Concerned courtiers suggested to the monarch that she might be better off letting Prince Charles carry out the task in her place,” Scobie wrote. “After all, the heir had already stood in for his mother at the opening of Parliament four months earlier. But this was one duty the Queen—despite the crippling pain she was experiencing in private—would not step aside from. ‘It’s my job,’ she defiantly told aides.
Scobie then revealed a touching detail from the day. “Her meeting with Truss was short, lasting a little under an hour, and the Queen concluded it by allowing a photograph of the two to be released — the monarch with her walking stick in her hand (a dark wood favourite that once belonged to Prince Philip ) and a room-lighting smile.”
Jane Barlow, the PA Media photographer who captured the images, later called it “an honour and a privilege” to snap the last official pictures of the monarch. Barlow also has revealed to the BBC that despite the visible frailty of the late Queen, even in her final days she was in “good spirits” and “very smiley”. “I was there to photograph her meeting the new prime minister but for me the best picture was the one of the Queen on her own. And it has obviously become more significant now,” said Ms Barlow, who previously worked for the Derby Telegraph newspaper. “I’ve had so many lovely comments about the picture. “It’s a real privilege to be able to take that picture, an honour and a privilege. It’s like that for a lot of our job.”
