Prince Charles went to the woods to forage for mushrooms while Queen Elizabeth's life 'ebbed away,' book says

• Prince Charles was foraging for mushrooms just before his mother, Queen Elizabeth, passed away, a royal biographer says.
• Biographer Jacob Jobson writes that Prince Charles knew his mother was near death and that he'd soon become king.

Prince Charles went to the woods to forage for mushrooms as the life of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, "ebbed away" in September 2022, royal biographer Robert Jobson wrote in a new book.

In an excerpt, published Saturday in the Daily Mail, Jobson wrote that Prince Charles — who is now the king — had been notified that the Queen's health had "suddenly deteriorated" on Sept. 7, 2022.

So on Sept. 8, Charles flew by helicopter to Balmoral Castle to be at his mother's bedside along with Princess Anne. At first, according to the expert, there "seemed no immediate reason for alarm."

"Understandably lost in thought, the Prince knew that the defining moment of his life, at the advanced age of 73, was fast approaching: the death of his mother and his accession as King," Jobson writes.

Charles returned to Birkhall, Scotland after spending a few hours with the queen to walk around in the surrounding woods with a wooden cane and a basket, according to the excerpt.

"As the Queen's life ebbed away, her heir was foraging for mushrooms," Jobson wrote in the excerpt. "More importantly, he was drawing solace and strength from the trees, the smell of the earth and the murmur of the River Muick."

One of Prince Charles' personal protection officers approached him in the woods to tell him that his mother's health had dramatically worsened, Jobson wrote. He returned to his mother's bedside at Balmoral and was there at 3:31 pm on Sept. 8 when she died, according to the excerpt.

The only other people at the Queen's bedside at the time were Charles's wife, Camilla, the queen's doctor, and Princess Anne, who had never left her mother's bedside, the book says. Prince William, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward arrived at Balmoral at about 5 pm and Prince Harry arrived at about 8 pm, according to the excerpt.