The final doctor to treat Queen Elizabeth II before her death had an upsetting realisation as he spent time with the monarch, according to a royal author. Dr Douglas James Allan Glass signed the late Queen’s death certificate after 34 years of service as the Apothecary to Her Majesty's Household at Balmoral . Royal documents reveal that the doctor treated the monarch for ailments including mobility problems and a debilitating bout of Covid-19 in the months before her death.
He explained that the queen’s advanced age and deteriorating health meant that her family and doctors were braced for the worst for several months before her death. "It was expected and we were quite aware of what was going to happen," Glass told Gyles Brandreth in his biography, Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait. As the Queen’s illness stretched on, her GP’s mounting concerns became a sad inevitability, according to the Daily Express .
On the day of her death, Dr Glass "visited again and determined Elizabeth was stable but coming towards the end of her life", says Robert Hardman in his book Charles III: New King. New Court. The Inside Story.
When the Queen was finally pronounced deceased at 3.10pm on September 8, 2022, Dr Glass identified the cause of death simply as “old age” on her formal death certificate. However, long before the Queen’s sad passing, the doctor already played a key role in protecting the health of the royal family.
In 1999, Dr Glass treated Princess Margaret when she badly.