Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson says the late Queen Elizabeth II had bone cancer

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says in his soon-to-be-released book that Queen Elizabeth II he was diagnosed with bone cancer before his death in September 2022 at the age of 96. His comments represent a major break with the royal agreement between the prime minister’s office and Buckingham Palace, where the UK’s elected leaders usually keep matters of the royal family to themselves. .

Johnson made the claim in his upcoming book, “Unleashed,” which is scheduled for release later in October. An extract from the book, which details the late queen’s personal life, was published this week in Johnson’s regular column for the Daily Mail.

No British government official or member of the royal family has yet released details about the late queen’s cause of death. The official death certificate published a week after Queen Elizabeth’s death listed the cause of death as “old age.”

“I had known for a year or so that he had some form of bone cancer, and his doctors were concerned that at any moment he might lose weight,” Johnson said in his letter. “He looked pale and bent over, and had dark bruises on his hands and wrists, probably from drips or injections.”

Although he said the queen appeared to be ill, Johnson said he was sharp in his last meeting with her.

“His mind… was completely unimpaired,” he writes. “She still lights up that big white smile with her sudden emotional beauty.”

Johnson who served as prime minister of the UK between 2019 and 2022, he met with Elizabeth a few days before her death at her Scottish residence, Balmoral Castle, to hand her her formal resignation as head of state.

Buckingham Palace declined to comment when asked by CBS News about Johnson’s claim. The palace does not usually comment on claims about the private lives of members of the royal family in books or print.

While Johnson’s comments break with a long-standing tradition of UK prime ministers not publicly commenting on what is said in private meetings with members of the royal family, it has never happened.

In 2014, then Prime Minister David Cameron he apologized to Queen Elizabeth to disclose details of a private conversation with him about the results a a referendum in which the Scots refused the idea of ​​separating Scotland from the United Kingdom to become an independent country.

Cameron was heard telling former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg that the monarch appeared relieved that Scots had voted to remain in the UK, suggesting the late queen had “thrown the line” after the final results.

Former British leaders Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have also provided details of their conversations and interactions with Queen Elizabeth in books about their time in power.

Elizabeth’s first son, who became King Charles III upon her death, broke with a long-standing precedent of not revealing royal health issues earlier this year, when Buckingham Palace revealed that cancer treatmentalthough the palace did not disclose what type of cancer he was being treated for.

A month after the king’s health problem was revealed, his daughter-in-law Catherine, Princess of Wales, revealed his own cancer diagnosis. Princess Kate said in September that he had finished his treatment, but that his “cure” would be long.