London, Thanasis Gavos

Queen Elizabeth was worried it would be “difficult” for her funeral ritual if she died at her beloved Balmoral Castle in Scotland, as it eventually happened, reveals a new documentary.

The film entitled “Charles III: The Coronation Years” presents an unknown background of the period shortly before the coronation of King Charles after the death of his mother. It will be shown on BBC One on Boxing Day.

Elizabeth’s daughter, Princess Anne, reveals that her mother was worried about where she would die, as the ‘Operation Unicorn’ plan to transport her coffin from Scotland to London was among the most complicated.

However she was persuaded by her family not to deal with the proceedings herself and to remain in Scotland while her health was failing.

Princess Anne also confides that she was overcome with a ‘strange sense of relief’ when the Imperial Crown was removed from her mother’s coffin during the burial ceremony at St George’s Chapel in Windsor. “It was symbolic of the handing over of responsibility,” adds Princess Anne according to details from the leaked documentary.

It is also revealed how in rehearsals for the coronation ceremony, Charles joked about his well-known fat fingers.

When his son William buttoned the cloak his father would wear at the ceremony, he joked that on the day of the ceremony he would not be able to close that particular buckle. Laughing, Charles replied: “No, you don’t have sausage fingers like me.”

The documentary also shows the Archbishop of Canterbury who conducted the coronation ceremony forgetting the words to a prayereveryone laughs at me, including the king.