The three people the Queen had trusted the most during her reign are now dead, a royal author has claimed.
According to royal biographer Matthew Dennison the monarch's closest confidants were Princess Margaret, her mother and Prince Philip.
Her Majesty shared a closer bond with the three than any of her children or friends, the writer has said.
The Queen lost her sister Princess Margaret and her mother within a month and a half of one another in 2002, while Phillip died on April 9 this year.
"In her long role as monarch, the Queen has probably trusted fully just three people: her mother, her sister and her husband, a trio to whom she was closer than any of her children or friends," Mr Dennison writes in his new book, The Queen, the Sun reports.
"After the deaths of the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret in 2002, Philip was the sole remaining member of that group.
"With his loss, the monarch is arguably more alone than at any time in her long life."
The Queen cut a solitary figure when she sat in the pews at her husband's funeral last month.
TV audiences were moved to see the 95-year-old, who is consistently a model of restraint, visibly emotional.
According to Mr Dennison the monarch is well prepared for life following her husband's death, due to the decades she's spent in the solitary role of queen.
While the Queen may have lost three of her nearest and dearest, she has many other close confidants and friends.
One of them is part of her lady-in-waiting, Lady Susan Hussey, who accompanied her for the drive to the chapel for Philip's funeral.
She is one of the Queen's five ladies-in-waiting who are important in her day-to-day life and who provide emotional support.
Princess Anne and Sophie Wessex were the first to visit the Queen in a royal rota following the funeral.
Family members took it in turns to comfort Elizabeth with walks at Windsor where she will also be accompanied by her two new corgi puppies.
