EXCLUSIVE: Inside Queen Elizabeth's Most Intimate Quarters Where She 'Battled Her Demons' — According to Former First Lady Jill Biden
Jill Biden revealed details of the Queen's most private retreat.
June 14 2026, Published 4:00 p.m. ET
Queen Elizabeth II's deeply personal living quarters at Windsor Castle offered a revealing glimpse into how the late monarch coped with grief following the death of Prince Philip, according to former First Lady Jill Biden – who has shared details of a private meeting with the sovereign in a newly published memoir.
RadarOnline.com can reveal Jill Biden, 75, recalled visiting Elizabeth in 2021 alongside then-President Joe Biden, 83, during an official trip to the United Kingdom.
Biden Book Exposes Windsor
Former First Lady Jill Biden published details of her private royal meeting.
The meeting took place just months after Elizabeth's husband Prince Philip died in April that year at the age of 99, ending a marriage that had lasted 73 years. Writing in her new memoir View from the East Wing, Biden described a warm and intimate setting inside Windsor Castle that contrasted sharply with public perceptions of royal formality.
Her recollections provide a rare insight into the Queen's private world during one of the most challenging periods of her reign.
Royal sources said the account highlights how Elizabeth, who died in 2022 aged 96, remained devoted to her family while navigating profound personal loss.
One insider told us: "The image many people have of the Queen is one of duty and restraint, but those who met her privately often came away struck by how family-centered she was. Her personal rooms reflected that side of her character."
Queen Comforted By Corgis
Queen Elizabeth II filled her personal living room with family photographs.
Another source said: "What emerges from Jill Biden's description is a woman who was grieving but determined to carry on. The family photographs, the conversations about her great-grandchildren and even her affection for her dogs all point to someone finding comfort in the people and things she loved most."
"The setting sounds remarkably personal rather than ceremonial. It suggests that behind the public role was a grandmother and mother who drew strength from family connections during an exceptionally difficult chapter of her life."
In her memoir, Biden described the room where her meeting with the monarch took place.
She wrote: "(Elizabeth's) personal living room was filled with photograph after photograph of members of her family. There was nothing stiff or stuffy about the room, but it held a quiet elegance – much like the queen herself.
"We gazed through the large windows to the wing on the other side of the courtyard. Queen Elizabeth remarked that it was quite busy over there, but her wing was rather hushed."
Protocol Axed For Tea Chat
Elizabeth personally poured the afternoon tea during the intimate visit.
Biden also reflected on the conversation that followed.
She wrote: "British protocol had advised us not to talk about family since her husband, Prince Philip, had died just a few months prior, at the age of 99. So I studiously did not ask the queen about her husband or anything related to the royal family.
"As soon as we began speaking, though, she filled us in on her 11 great-grandchildren and the new one on the way. I was amazed that she poured the tea herself and wanted to talk about foreign policy. She had two new Corgi puppies to help her through the hard times. One came in, and she gave him half a smoked salmon tea sandwich."
Additional insights into Elizabeth's life after Philip's death have emerged through the recent opening of her private rooms at the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.
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Elizabeth ate her daily breakfast alone following the death of her husband.
Curator Richard Williams said: "She and the Duke of Edinburgh would be here, the Scotsman newspaper would be delivered, also the Radio Times and the Racing Post as well.
"The Queen always knew everything that was going on."
Williams added: "After the Duke of Edinburgh passed away, breakfast was the only meal that she would eat by herself, and she would sit in the chair with her back to the fireplace so she could see all the members of staff and people's comings and goings in front of her.
"For other times of the day, she would eat with members of the royal family."
