Senior royals faced mysterious hour-long delay as they raced to be with dying Queen

SENIOR royals faced a mysterious hour-long delay as they raced to be with the dying Queen.

Their RAF jet is at the centre of a riddle as it took off for Balmoral at 2.39pm on Thursday — but had been scheduled to leave at 1.30pm.

It was not clear what caused the last-minute hold-up but Princes William and Andrew, as well as Prince Edward and his wife, Sophie, were on board.

Prince Harry was not on the RAF Dassault Falcon — with experts suggesting it was down to fears of a constitutional crisis should it have crashed.

The Duke of Sussex had to make his own way to Scotland, arriving two hours after his grandmother died. He was said to be furious that he did not make it in time.

But royal watchers say 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.

“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.

“I don’t think we will see them fly together again for constitutional reasons.

Today, The Sun on Sunday can detail the royals’ frantic rush to be at the dying Queen’s bedside.

Health fears were first raised on Wednesday when doctors ordered the Queen to postpone her Privy Council meeting — 24 hours after raising herself to perform her final duty of swearing in new Prime Minister Liz Truss.

There was what insiders describe as a “flurry of activity” on the estate on Wednesday.

The Queen remained comfortable and was supervised by doctors who were on hand throughout the night.

Meanwhile, the Dassault Falcon flew into RAF Northolt from Benbecula, a tiny island in the Outer Hebrides, at 9.49pm. It was unclear why the plane had been there.

It was made ready in case family members in London or Windsor needed to head north.

They added: “This was a common-sense move and meant it would be on stand-by if senior royals needed to move at short notice.”

Princess Anne was already at Balmoral where she had a series of engagements.

On Thursday morning, Charles cancelled a string of meetings at Dumfries House in Ayrshire then jumped in a Balmoral-bound helicopter at 10.30am.

His team also raced the 150 miles north.

He landed at about 11.30am shortly after Camilla, 75, cancelled a visit — planned for six months — to a cancer hospital.

Then an hour later, at 12.32pm, with rumours circulating, Buckingham Palace released its first statement of the day.

It said: “Following further evaluation this morning, the Queen’s doctors are concerned for Her Majesty’s health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision.

“The Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral.”

The statement provoked a frantic family rush to be by her side.

A spokesman for William confirmed at about 12.46pm the prince was travelling to Balmoral.

He was seen leaving Windsor by car at about 1.10pm.

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 seen in his Bentley in Windsor driving towards RAF Northolt at 1.30pm.

A spokesman later confirmed he was travelling to see his mother.

Five minutes later it was confirmed by the palace that the Earl and Countess of Wessex were also travelling to Scotland.

Flight records show the Dassault Falcon RAF jet G-ZABH which landed the previous evening was due to take off at 1.30pm — but it stayed on the tarmac.

At 1.50pm, the Sussexes announced that both Harry and wife Meghan would travel to see the Queen.

The RAF jet finally left Northolt at 2.39pm sending news crews scrambling to Aberdeen airport.

When it landed at 3.55pm only William, Andrew, Edward and Sophie emerged down the steps — and the party sped off on the hour-long drive through the Highlands to Balmoral.

At 4.40pm the Sussexes confirmed that only Harry would travel to Scotland and Meghan was staying behind.

The US-based couple were at Frogmore Cottage after flying in for a string of charity engagements in Manchester, Germany and London.

A source told The Sun on Sunday: “Charles had already been to see the Queen after he landed his helicopter in the morning. The family were alerted and started heading to Scotland.

“Harry has insisted that Meghan came with him but it didn’t go down too well.

“Harry was told he had to find his own way to Scotland. he could not get the flight with William, Andrew, Edward and Sophie.”

Another source said: “Harry was left fuming.”

It was understood that Charles told Harry it was not appropriate for Meghan to be with the Queen.

It is believed that Harry finally got airborne on a private Cessna jet from Luton Airport at 5.35pm.

The flight was delayed — it was due to land at 6.29pm but touched down only at 6.46pm. Buckingham Palace had announced the Queen’s death to the world at 6.32pm.

A shattered and broken-looking Harry was seen being driven in the rain into Balmoral nearly two hours late shortly before 8pm.

He was the first royal to leave on Friday morning and he sat in business class on a BA flight back to Heathrow later that morning.