Inevitably followed by death the final curtain call, and in turn, leaving behind mourning survivors and bewilder mania. With that being said, for a select few, the final moments would provide a last opportunity to make an impact. With finality, these last words are a whisper, a proclamation, a final joke the voice of the eroded, and once spoken, they become etched in the annals of history.
Queen Elizabeth II (1926–2022)
Queen Elizabeth II died in 2022, leaving the world in shock. Fresh details are getting revealed, some incredibly intimate glimpses of the monarch’s stoic thoughts IN a red box she used to take to work, which was her daily repository for government papers, were poignant letters she wrote to her son, King Charles, and her trusted aide, Sir Edward Young. Royal biographer Robert Hardman theorized these last missives might well be the Queens last words, a parting message to those she loves, or a note to let us know she did it ‘by the numbers’ to the bitter end.
Che Guevara (1928–1967)
But, by comparison, the firebrand revolutionary Che Guevara went out in an inferno of revolution. With nothing else to lose and his executioner, Sergeant Terán, looking him in the eye, Guevara’s concluding words were an eruption of revolutionary passion: “Take your work seriously: shoot! His transplantation to the annals of history and with it, his act of insurrection became the rallying call for generations of revolutionaries to come.
Muhammad Ali (1942–2016)
Muhammad Ali, The “Greatest,” Riley in studio by Going In with The Godfather Show on SoundCloud – Hear the world’s sounds With family by his side, he spoke words of solace, noting lack of suffering and his embrace of the inevitable. One last question to his daughter Rahaman, “How do I look? The gesture was a tad vain, perhaps a reflection of the showman who never truly exited Ali’s soul.
Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790)
America’s polymath, Benjamin Franklin, accepted the inevitable with his usual good humor. Even his soft cry to his daughter Gasping for air came the quip, a dying man can do nothing easy. And even in death, Franklin had a quip about the human condition – alluding to the sharp mind that helped create a nation.
Thomas Edison (1847–1931)
Thomas Edison, the “wizard of Menlo Park,” appears to have been staring into that void before he slipped into his coma. His last words, “It is beautiful over there,” gave rise to all manner of conjecture. Did he glimpse the afterlife? Maybe his thoughts drifted back to the elegance of innovation at the edge of the possible? The mystery lives on and that in and of itself is kind of poetic.
Humphrey Bogart (1899–1957)
Although he was one of the iconic tough guys of Hollywood, even Humphrey Bogart shed a few tears when he said goodbye to his wife, Lauren Bacall. I could almost hear him murmur, his last, “Bye kid. An entire lifetime of love was shattered to a whisper of three words in his ear, and how different he sounded from the world-weary cynic he most often portrayed on the screen.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
But the Renaissance maestro Leonardo da Vinci, faced the enormity of his accomplishments till the very end. Wracked by the belief he had “offended God and mankind because my work did not have the quality it should have,” he interjected a more specific, unsurprising assessment of his oeuvre in his letter to Gottschalk. This self-inspection exposes the unquenchable desire for perfection that drove his genius.
Princess Diana (1961–1997)
The entire world grieved over the tragic loss of Princess Diana. She never spoke again – the last sound she would ever make was a weak little, “Oh my God!” and then it was over. This act, though short lived, was one of the things that would constantly be brought up in conversation, a symbol of the tragedy that ended her young life.
These last statements be they defiant proclamations, bittersweet goodbyes, or somber reflections reveal a hidden side of these towering figures. That trap still exists in the convenient blend of industriousness and freedom they come to embody during their time, enshrining the virtues and vices of their time, and thus their own humanity. They remind us that even the most iconic beings in the world have the same outcome that awaits all of us, their final words a resounding echo in the halls of time.
