It started with a short but worrying statement. Less than 48 hours after a frail but smiling Queen Elizabeth II was photographed naming new Prime Minister Liz Truss, her doctors said they were “concerned”.

An unprecedented medical bulletin from Buckingham Palace said the 96-year-old Queen was under “medical supervision” but was “feeling comfortable” in her Scottish retreat at Balmoral Castle.

The announcement at 12:32 p.m. (1132 GMT) sent shockwaves through Parliament, where MPs had gathered to hear Truss announce a two-year freeze on energy bills.

Within minutes, the office of the heir to the throne, Prince Charles, had announced that he and his wife Camilla, who were already staying at the Balmoral estate, had arrived at Balmoral Castle.

It is believed that the Queen’s daughter, Princess Anne, also made it to Balmoral in time, as she too was in Scotland.

Both are said to have been at the Queen’s side when she died on Thursday afternoon.

However, other family members faced a long and ultimately unsuccessful stampede from London.

Second in line to the throne, Prince William; the Queen’s other two sons, Princes Andrew and Edward; and Edwards’ wife Sophie, who was particularly close to the monarch; arrived late afternoon in a cold, gray Aberdeen aboard a special RAF aircraft.

William, who is now the heir, then took the wheel of the car for the 80 km (50 miles) drive to Balmoral.

But by the time the fierce royals smashed through the Balmoral goal just after 5pm, it was already too late.

Around half an hour earlier, at 4.30pm, the Prime Minister had been informed that the Queen had died that afternoon.

Prince Harry, Charles’ second son, was still on his way from London.

Initial announcements from the couple’s spokesman said that both he and his wife Meghan would be traveling to Balmoral.

Harry ended up making the journey alone and was still aloft when the Palace’s official announcement to the world was made at 6:30pm.

He arrived in Balmoral much later.

BBC royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell speculated live on air that Meghan – who has voiced a number of damaging criticisms of the royal family – ended up not making the trip for fear “she might not receive a particularly warm welcome”. .

The palace statement said the queen died “peacefully” but did not give a cause of death, in line with royal tradition.

Sources told the Daily Mail newspaper there was “no chronic illness”.

The Queen had done far less work in recent months, but she still met both outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the new Liz Truss on Tuesday.

The sources told the daily the Queen had been in good spirits despite her recent and well-documented “mobility issues” but had suddenly deteriorated on Wednesday night.