By Katherine Tinsley
3:21pm PDT, Sep 10, 2025
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Princess Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell, claimed Queen Elizabeth II said "Well, that's a shame," when she learned she had just months to live. There was talk at the time that Her Majesty had bone cancer, but the palace never confirmed or denied the rumors.
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Paul Burrell later said that Queen Elizabeth II was set on celebrating her Platinum Jubilee before she died. According to Burrell, she said, "Next year is my Platinum Jubilee year and I'd quite like to have seen that."
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"Can you keep me alive for that?" Queen Elizabeth II reportedly asked her doctor. (She did ultimately live long enough to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee.)
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"They kept her alive to witness this landmark in her reign, but she knew through it all that she was dying," Paul Burrell said of Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee, which she celebrated in June 2022 — just three months before she died on September 8.
