Before her death, Queen Elizabeth wrote two private letters—one for her son, King Charles, and another for her top aide.
伊丽莎白女王在去世前写了两封私人信件——一封给她的儿子查尔斯国王，另一封给她的高级助手。
In an excerpt of royal biographer Robert Hardman’s book, The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy (out Jan. 18), in the Daily Mail on Friday, the author describes how staff discovered two private letters that the Queen had left behind after her death on Sept. 8, 2022.
王室传记作家罗伯特·哈德曼的书《国王的形成:国王查理三世和现代君主制》(1月18日出版)摘录于周五的《每日邮报》，作者描述了工作人员如何发现女王于2022年9月8日去世后留下的两封私人信件。
In the aftermath of the Queen’s death at Balmoral Castle, senior staff, including the monarch’s private secretary Sir Edward Young, were mapping out the days ahead when a footman brought them one of the Queen’s famous red boxes. The red box is the daily dispatch of papers from ministers around the U.K. There may also be documents and correspondence from representatives from the Commonwealth and other countries around the world.
女王在巴尔莫勒尔堡去世后，包括女王私人秘书爱德华·杨爵士在内的高级官员正在规划未来的日子，一名男仆给他们带来了女王著名的红盒子之一。这个红盒子是英国各国部长每天发送的文件，也可能是英联邦和世界其他国家代表的文件和信件。
“It was the last one that had gone up to the Queen before her death,” Hardman writes in the excerpt. “Like all red boxes, it had just two keys, one for the monarch and the other for her duty private secretary.”
哈德曼在节选中写道:“这是女王去世前最后一封写给她的信。”“像所有的红盒子一样，它只有两把钥匙，一把给女王，另一把给她的值班私人秘书。”
Inside the box, Young found that the Queen had left a sealed letter to Prince Charles and a private letter to himself.
在盒子里，杨发现女王给查尔斯王子留下了一封密封的信，还有一封给他自己的私人信件。
“We will probably never know what they said. However, it is clear enough that the Queen had known that the end was imminent and had planned accordingly. Were they final instructions or final farewells? Or both?” Hardman writes. “Elizabeth II had been completing her own last pieces of unfinished business.”
“我们可能永远不会知道他们说了什么。然而，很明显，女王已经知道末日即将来临，并做出了相应的计划。这是最后的指示还是最后的告别?还是两个?”Hardman写道。“伊丽莎白二世一直在完成自己最后的未竟事业。”
The Queen also left behind her list of candidates to join the order of Merit — her final royal duty.
女王还留下了她的荣誉勋章候选人名单，这是她最后的王室职责。
“The Queen had always taken it extremely seriously,” Hardman writes in Daily Mail’s excerpt. “The paperwork had gone up to her two days before so that she could go through the notes and tick her choices. Here it was, completed and returned for Sir Edward to make the necessary arrangements. It was the last document ever handled by Queen Elizabeth II. Even on her deathbed, there had been work to do. And she had done it.”
哈德曼在《每日邮报》的摘录中写道:“女王一直非常认真地对待这件事。她在两天前就收到了文件，这样她就可以浏览一下笔记，然后在上面打勾。信就在这儿，写好了，交给爱德华爵士作必要的安排。这是女王伊丽莎白二世处理过的最后一份文件。即使在临终之时，她也有工作要做。她做到了。”
伊丽莎白女王在去世前写了两封私人信件——一封给她的儿子查尔斯国王，另一封给她的高级助手。
In an excerpt of royal biographer Robert Hardman’s book, The Making of a King: King Charles III and the Modern Monarchy (out Jan. 18), in the Daily Mail on Friday, the author describes how staff discovered two private letters that the Queen had left behind after her death on Sept. 8, 2022.
王室传记作家罗伯特·哈德曼的书《国王的形成:国王查理三世和现代君主制》(1月18日出版)摘录于周五的《每日邮报》，作者描述了工作人员如何发现女王于2022年9月8日去世后留下的两封私人信件。
In the aftermath of the Queen’s death at Balmoral Castle, senior staff, including the monarch’s private secretary Sir Edward Young, were mapping out the days ahead when a footman brought them one of the Queen’s famous red boxes. The red box is the daily dispatch of papers from ministers around the U.K. There may also be documents and correspondence from representatives from the Commonwealth and other countries around the world.
女王在巴尔莫勒尔堡去世后，包括女王私人秘书爱德华·杨爵士在内的高级官员正在规划未来的日子，一名男仆给他们带来了女王著名的红盒子之一。这个红盒子是英国各国部长每天发送的文件，也可能是英联邦和世界其他国家代表的文件和信件。
“It was the last one that had gone up to the Queen before her death,” Hardman writes in the excerpt. “Like all red boxes, it had just two keys, one for the monarch and the other for her duty private secretary.”
哈德曼在节选中写道:“这是女王去世前最后一封写给她的信。”“像所有的红盒子一样，它只有两把钥匙，一把给女王，另一把给她的值班私人秘书。”
Inside the box, Young found that the Queen had left a sealed letter to Prince Charles and a private letter to himself.
在盒子里，杨发现女王给查尔斯王子留下了一封密封的信，还有一封给他自己的私人信件。
“We will probably never know what they said. However, it is clear enough that the Queen had known that the end was imminent and had planned accordingly. Were they final instructions or final farewells? Or both?” Hardman writes. “Elizabeth II had been completing her own last pieces of unfinished business.”
“我们可能永远不会知道他们说了什么。然而，很明显，女王已经知道末日即将来临，并做出了相应的计划。这是最后的指示还是最后的告别?还是两个?”Hardman写道。“伊丽莎白二世一直在完成自己最后的未竟事业。”
The Queen also left behind her list of candidates to join the order of Merit — her final royal duty.
女王还留下了她的荣誉勋章候选人名单，这是她最后的王室职责。
“The Queen had always taken it extremely seriously,” Hardman writes in Daily Mail’s excerpt. “The paperwork had gone up to her two days before so that she could go through the notes and tick her choices. Here it was, completed and returned for Sir Edward to make the necessary arrangements. It was the last document ever handled by Queen Elizabeth II. Even on her deathbed, there had been work to do. And she had done it.”
哈德曼在《每日邮报》的摘录中写道:“女王一直非常认真地对待这件事。她在两天前就收到了文件，这样她就可以浏览一下笔记，然后在上面打勾。信就在这儿，写好了，交给爱德华爵士作必要的安排。这是女王伊丽莎白二世处理过的最后一份文件。即使在临终之时，她也有工作要做。她做到了。”
