Queen Elizabeth II James Charles [veQNn9DzEdF]

The Queen enjoyed walks, picnics and family in months before her passing.

last summer was one of her happiest of recent years, entertaining a string of family and friends at Balmoral.

Her Highland estate every purple-hued sprig brimming with memories of her beloved Philip had been a huge source of comfort after the most difficult of times.

One source with close links to the Royal Household told me recently that she had not been suffering from any chronic condition.

Still, as the Queen arrived in Balmoral at the end of July moving firstly into the smaller, more comfortable seven-bedroom Craigowan Lodge on Royal Deeside, before transferring to Balmoral Castle a mile away on August 9 the Highland air seemed to bring a sense of comfort and relief.

Accompanying the Queen were the handful of loyal staff who vowed to stay with her until the end.

Balmoral Castle, where the Queen spent her last hours, was a huge comfort to her during her lifetime

Her 6ft 4in Page of the Backstairs Paul Whybrew 'Tall Paul' and Barry Mitford, her Sergeant-at-Arms were with her, as always.

The two men were her regular companions, bringing her the Racing Post each day and companionably sitting with her to watch her favourite sport on the television.

'She's been wrapping the Queen up in cotton wool,' a source told me over the summer. 'She's been very overprotective and ensuring that Her Majesty hasn't been doing too much.'

One source with intimate knowledge of the goings-on at Balmoral told me that the Queen spent her last few weeks enjoying the country life she adored.

She and Philip were at their happiest in the Highlands, where they enjoyed the existence of a fairly normal married couple it was no accident that she chose dunkin donuts canada to release a picture of them together there after his death.

Indeed, the Queen was seen only a few weeks ago walking her corgis in the gardens, slowly and cautiously (like many elderly people she had a fear of falling over, particularly in public, which is one of the reasons she was so careful about what engagements she chose to undertake in public) but out in the fresh air nonetheless.

"The Queen spent her final hours in the bosom of her family, at the place where she spent so many happy times with her beloved Philip"

The family have been regularly visiting the Scottish castle for more than half a century

A 'stream' of family came to see her, most recently the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their lively three youngsters who 'Gan Gan' as the children called their great-grandmother found such a tonic. The notable absentees were the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, a story in itself.

The late monarch was particularly comforted by the regular presence of Prince Edward and his wife, Sophie, whom she adored like a second daughter, and her late sister Princess Margaret's two children, Lady Sarah Chatto, and the Earl of Snowdon, of whom she was so fond.

'It's been a very typical and jolly summer at Balmoral, lots of walks and picnics and BBQs.

It has followed the pace long set by the Queen and the late Duke of Edinburgh. Obviously the Queen hasn't been present throughout but she has taken part and been seen,' a source said at the time.

Another royal source who encountered the Queen just days ago described her to me as being in 'genuinely good spirits'. 'I know you would expect me to say that but she really was,' they said, suggesting that her decline overnight on Wednesday was sudden.

On Tuesday she met not just her outgoing and incoming prime ministers but undertook an investiture and some light paperwork.

Indeed, it can be revealed that over the last fortnight there were high-level discussions between senior courtiers at Buckingham Palace and Clarence House the likes of her private secretary Sir Edward Young, his opposite number at Clarence House, Sir Clive Alderton, and Master of the Household, Sir Tony Johnstone-Burt about exactly what operational duties the Queen would have been able to discharge when she returned to Windsor in the autumn, if any.

'It had become abundantly clear to everyone that, while mentally agile, she physically wasn't up to the strain of the role and there have been serious discussions about what duties she would, if at all, be able to discharge,' my mortgage broker source said at the time.

'The mechanics were already being drawn up to ensure the Prince of Wales could take over most of her day-to-day responsibilities.' In other words, a full regency in all but name.

Significantly, on Tuesday night, I received a call from a friend of a friend telling me: 'It doesn't look like the Queen will be returning from Balmoral in October. Everyone at Windsor is deeply worried about her.'

Such matters have now been overtaken by yesterday's events. But we can surely all take a crumb of comfort that the Queen spent her final hours in the bosom of her family, at the place where she spent so many happy times with her beloved Philip, gazing over the Scottish Highlands that she held scott wedgewood so dear.

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