Boris Johnson has broken tradition by writing about the Queen’s health

• Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote in his memoirs that Queen Elizabeth II had bone cancer.
• Experts say the royal family has historically kept their medical information private for various reasons.
• King Charles III tried to use his health struggles to help others.

After Queen Elizabeth died on 8 September 2022, her official cause of death was listed as old age.

But former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote in his forthcoming memoir, Unleashed, that the monarch had bone cancer before her death, an extract published by The Daily Mail has revealed. The book will be released in the UK on October 10th and in the US on October 15th.

“We had known for a year or more that she had a form of bone cancer and her doctors were concerned that at any moment she might go into a sudden decline,” he wrote in a passage about a visit with the Queen in September 2022 . just a few days before her death.

Johnson also said that the Queen’s private secretary, Edward Young, told him that she “knew all summer that she was going”, although this was not made public.

Johnson’s revelation was not entirely new, as royal biographer Gyles Brandreth said the queen had bone marrow cancer in his 2022 book, Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait. Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the book at the time of publication.

The late monarch’s decision to keep her health private is not atypical for a royal, but it is unusual for a former prime minister to share intimate details about a monarch’s health.

Buckingham Palace did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Medical privacy in the monarchy

Members of the royal family, especially those on the throne, have often kept their medical problems private.

Historian, author and royal commentator Carolyn Harris told BI that under the reign of King George VI, the privacy was indicative of the wider culture around medicine at the time. Queen Elizabeth II’s father died of lung cancer, which Harris said George himself may not have seen coming.

“For many members of the public, it was a shock that he died when he died, and certainly for his family,” she said, noting that Elizabeth and Prince Philip had just gone on a royal tour before his death.

“This reflects the 1950s, when it was thought to be upsetting to both the patient and the patient’s family and the public, as well as to talk about cancer,” Harris said.

Royal watcher Kristen Meinzer also noted that the media landscape of most of the 1900s was intrinsically friendlier to giving public figures privacy than our modern era is.

“The Queen, in her lifetime, has seen a huge change in the media landscape and therefore the way information about the Royal Family has been disseminated,” she said. “It was easier if the royal family wanted to be private about their health 100 years ago to say nothing.”

The Queen and Prince Philip continued her father’s legacy of privacy, but Harris said their motivation was probably a little more strategic than King George VI’s.

“Both Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip have always wanted the headlines to focus on the work of the monarchy rather than their individual health conditions,” Harris said.

For example, Harris said Philip chose to retire from public life in 2017 so “there wouldn’t be feverish media speculation every time he was absent from a royal event.” He died in 2021 at the age of 99.

The Queen also made several appearances in her last year despite her declining health, attending the Platinum Jubilee in June 2022. Just two days before she died, she met Liz Truss at Balmoral Castle in Scotland to name her as the new Prime Minister. .

Meinzer echoed Harris, noting that the queen hasn’t even officially announced her pregnancies.

The changing times

As Harris told BI, Johnson’s details of the Queen’s health in his memoirs are unusual for a former prime minister.

“Conversations between the sovereign and the prime minister are supposed to take place in confidence and that is why there is so much curiosity about the conversations that take place behind palace doors,” Harris said.

She added that some recent prime ministers have been a little more forthcoming about their private audience with the Queen, including David Cameron, much to the Queen’s reported displeasure.

Harris said medical details about the royal family were traditionally only disclosed in authorized biographies, although King Charles III appears to be taking a more modern approach to his health.

Charles and Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, were both diagnosed with cancer in 2024, and the king, in particular, wanted to say that he underwent surgery for an enlarged prostate in January.

“I think a lot of King Charles III’s life, both his public life and his private life, has been played out in front of the press, so it’s clear that he feels more comfortable interacting with the media,” Harris said.

Harris and Meinzer pointed to the biography The Prince of Wales, which the king worked on with Jonathan Dimbleby in the 1990s, as an example of his openness to the media.

“I think King Charles III sees the benefit of the public being aware that the monarch is going through these various health procedures,” Harris said.

After announcing he was undergoing a procedure for an enlarged prostate in January, the NHS prostate enlargement page has seen a surge in daily visitors.

Although the king’s opening up has had a positive impact, and Kate recently shared that she has finished chemotherapy, Meinzer doesn’t think they will reveal intimate details about their treatments in the coming months.

“Maybe eventually there will be another memoir or biography that Charles is collaborating on or that Kate is collaborating on,” Meinzer said. “I wouldn’t expect it anytime soon, but it’s always a possibility.”