Queen Elizabeth’s15th prime ministerhas been welcomed into the role like never before.
For the first time in her 70-year reign, the monarch, 96, appointed a new prime minister in Scotland. New premierLiz Trusstraveled to Balmoral Castle, where the Queen traditionally spends her summers, to be formally appointed on Tuesday.
Truss, 47, previously served as Britain’s Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs and Minister for Women and Equalities since 2019. Her margin of victory to the high office, however, was slimmer than many expected, winning 57% of the votes of Conservative Party members to become its leader Monday.
“I am honoured to be elected Leader of the Conservative Party. Thank you for putting your trust in me to lead and deliver for our great country,” Truss said in astatementfollowing the race against Rishi Sunak. “I will take bold action to get all of us through these tough times, grow our economy, and unleash the United Kingdom’s potential.”
Queen Elizabeth and Liz Truss.Jane Barlow/AP/Shutterstock
Truss becomes the third and youngest woman to serve as prime minister, behindMargaret Thatcher(1979–1990) andTheresa May(2016–2019). She and the Queen previously met in October 2021, during a Windsor Castle reception for the Global Investment Summit.
Outgoing Prime MinisterBoris Johnsonalso traveled to Scotland Tuesday for a formal farewell from the monarch.
“The Right Honourable Boris Johnson MP had an Audience of The Queen this morning and tendered his resignation as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, which Her Majesty was graciously pleased to accept,” Buckingham Palace said in a release Tuesday.
Liz Truss arrives at Balmoral.Andrew Milligan/AP/Shutterstock
A sourceexplainedlast week that the decision was made for the audiences to take place at Balmoral to provide certainty for the new prime minister and Johnson’s schedules. The Queen has been experiencingepisodic mobility issues, and they wanted to avoid the issue of alternative arrangements at the last minute had the plan been for the monarch to travel to London or Windsor Castle.
Appointing the prime minister is one of the Queen’s key duties, one she wouldn’t delegate to her son and heirPrince Charles. Charles, 73, has been undertaking an increasing number of roles on the monarch’s behalf in recent months.
Although she met her first prime minister, Sir Winston Churchill, when she stepped off the plane that brought her back from Kenya to Britain in 1952, all the others have gone to see her at the palace.
Arthur Edwards-Pool/Getty Images
This is the 15th prime minister sinceQueen Elizabethtook the throne. Although the monarch stays politically neutral, she has important ceremonial roles in relation to the government of the U.K.
“The Queen’s duties include opening each new session of Parliament, granting Royal Assent to legislation, and approving Orders and Proclamations through the Privy Council,” according to the royal family’swebsite. “The Queen also has a special relationship with the Prime Minister, retaining the right to appoint and also meeting with him or her on a regular basis.”
Boris Johnson and Queen Elizabeth.Victoria Jones - WPA Pool/Getty
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Of course, the Queen’s relationship with each of her prime ministers varies.
Winston Churchill, who served as prime minister from 1940 to 1945 then again from 1951 to 1955, was the first British prime minister the Queen worked with during her reign when she ascended the throne in 1952.
The monarch was quite fond of Churchill and sent him a handwritten letter upon his retirement. In it, she said no one “will ever for me be able to hold the place of my first prime minister, to whom both my husband and I owe so much and for whose wise guidance during the early years of my reign I shall always be so profoundly grateful,” according toYahoo.
From left to right: James Callaghan, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Margaret Thatcher, Harold Macmillan, Queen Elizabeth, Harold Wilson and Ted Heath.Hulton-Deutsch Collection/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty
Although she was the U.K.’s first female prime minister, there was a stiffness between the Queen and Margaret Thatcher.
“It was the starchiest relationship. She was deferential, much too deferential. The Queen was not requiring so much,” said one longtime observer, according toThe Daily Beast.A family friend added: “The Queen had some most amusing and well-observed lines about Thatcher.”
source: people.com
