Mystery deepens over why senior royals' jet was held on ground for 69 minutes as they rushed to see dying Queen
LONDON, ENGLAND: Senior royals reportedly faced an hour-long delay after it was confirmed by the palace that the Queen's health had deteriorated. The RAF jet took off for Balmoral at 2.39 pm on Thursday, September 8, but was scheduled to leave at 1.30 pm.
The plane was carrying Princes William and Andrew, as well as Prince Edward and his wife, Sophie. According to The Sun, it is unclear what caused the delay. Prince Harry was not on the RAF Dassault Falcon, due to fears of a constitutional crisis by the experts, should it have crashed.
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The Duke of Sussex arrived two hours after Her Majesty passed away. As per the outlet, he was unhappy to arrive late. However, royal observers believe that aides did not want Harry and William to travel together in case they were both killed in a crash.
Constitutional expert and royal author Brian Hoey said, “There is a strong constitutional reason that William and Harry do not fly together — and that is to do with the line of succession. Royal aides have to consider everything, and this is very likely to have been a factor."
He added, “While events happened very quickly, they have had years to plan for all eventualities. The speed of events caught everyone off-guard and could have affected travel plans — but it still would have been unwise for William and Harry to fly together."
Concerns were raised about the Queen's health on Wednesday, September 7 when doctors advised the monarch to postpone her Privy Council meeting. A statement from Buckingham Palace read, "The Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral."
As news of the Queen's health was made public, Charles canceled a series of meetings at Dumfries House in Ayrshire to go to his mother in a Balmoral-bound helicopter at 10.30 am. He landed at about 11.30 am. His wife Camilla also canceled a visit to a cancer hospital that had been planned for six months. Shortly afterward, it was announced that the Queen had "died peacefully."
Meanwhile, the Dassault Falcon flew into RAF Northolt from Benbecula, a tiny island in the Outer Hebrides, at 9.49 pm on Wednesday, September 7. As per the Sun, it was made ready in case family members needed to head north. A spokesman for William confirmed that the prince was traveling to Balmoral.
His wife Kate stayed at Adelaide Cottage to pick up their children, George, Charlotte and Louis from their first day at school. Prince Andrew was also captured driving towards RAF Northolt at 1.30 pm on September 8.
Flight records show that the Dassault Falcon RAF jet G-ZABH was due to take off at 1.30 pm, but it stayed on the tarmac until over an hour later.