Her Majesty, the late Queen Elizabeth II was known to have written details about her personal life and role as monarch in numerous diaries across her 70-year reign.
And now, more than two years on from her death, these diaries will reportedly be reviewed by an official biographer appointed by His Majesty King Charles, who will then “write the official life of the previous monarch.”
“I would expect, in the next year or two, the King to appoint an official biographer because each monarch appoints an official biographer to write the official life of the previous monarch,” royal biographer Robert Hardman shared with HELLO! this month.
The last time such an endeavour occurred was in the early 1950s when the Queen appointed John Wheeler-Bennet to write the life of her father King George VI.
He added that despite previous speculation that the content of the diaries would be made public, he “very much” doubted they’d be published for the masses to read.
“We won’t be able to rummage through them ourselves.”
It was first reported by The Telegraph in June 2023 that private diaries and letters from the Queen may end up in the public domain.
Her Majesty’s former footman Paul Whybrew, who was known to be very close to the late monarch, was reportedly tasked with sorting through seven decades worth of documents and handpicking which were suitable to be released to the public.
Serving the Queen for an impressive 44 years, it came as no shock that the retired footman was given the huge responsibility.
According to the publication, Paul is spending two days a week working through the priceless, and personal documents, before submitting them for approval from King Charles to be released.
Whilst it may seem strange to some that the private documents of a member of the royal family (both British and abroad) would even be considered for public release, the practice is surprisingly quite common.
Queen Victoria – who reigned from 1937 until her death in 1901- often journaled, and a total of 141 volumes (numbering 43,765) have since become available online for royal fans or those interested in history to peruse.
In her diaries, she touched on everything from her Diamond Jubilee celebrations to her wedding and love for Prince Albert.
Something tells us, that Queen Elizabeth’s diaries may follow a similar (if not more modern) vein.
