Royals

How Queen Elizabeth II decision-making changed in final years of her life

Queen Elizabeth the II became more assertive and confident in her decisions during final years

Published April 22, 2026

Queen Elizabeth II became stronger as a monarch during in the later years of our life.

Her Majesty, who passed away in 2022, made herself resilient and assertive as she reached in her 90s.

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On what would be the late monarch’s death birth anniversary, Royal expert Robert Hardman reveals what made the Queen different from the rest of the world.

He tells Marie Claire: “You see the family dramas unfolding in the ‘90s and she's sort of slightly thinking, ‘Well, let's sort of park this and hope for the best and see what happens.’”

“By the time, you know, Harry and Meghan are putting accusations out there on the airwaves, I mean, she's straight back within hours.”

He adds: “I think she realized increasingly in life that a problem deferred is a sort of a problem magnified.”

Instead of being “pushed aside,” Hardman says Queen Elizabeth only became stronger.

“The older she got, the sort of stronger she got, in a sense,” he shares. “And she was very direct in her decision-making really in her later years.”

Eleen Bukhari
Eleen Bukhari is a London-based journalist and MSc graduate from Brunel University with over five years of experience. Specialising in the British Royal Family and global entertainment, she provides expert analysis of monarchy traditions, celebrity culture, and the evolving media narratives surrounding the world’s most high-profile figures.
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