The King has had three British prime ministers during his almost two-year reign, but Sir Keir Starmer is his first elected PM. Liz Truss took office just days before Queen Elizabeth II died and Rishi Sunak, her successor, metaphorically ‘kissed hands on appointment’ and was invited to form a government only seven weeks later, after Truss was voted out by her own party.
Receiving the leader of a general election’s winning party and marking the changeover of prime ministers is an essential duty of the monarch as head of state. King Charles cut short Royal Week in Edinburgh to return to London to be on standby to invite his outgoing and incoming prime ministers to Buckingham Palace. Conservative Rishi Sunak was accompanied by his wife, Akshata Murty, and as is tradition she was present at the end of her husband’s audience in which he tendered his resignation to the King.
The same thing happened in reverse once they had departed and Sir Keir Starmer, accompanied by his wife Victoria, were greeted at the King’s Door of Buckingham Palace and taken to the Audience Room on the first floor. This time His Majesty invited Labour leader Sir Keir to form a new administration.
The following day the King, as Head of the Commonwealth, hosted the West Indies cricket team ahead of the first Test match against England at Lord’s. The reception was held in the Centre Room Lobby at Buckingham Palace, which is on the route of this summer’s new East Wing tour that sold out within hours of the tickets going on sale.
The tour includes the Centre Room, which leads on to the famous Buckingham Palace balcony, scene of so many historic moments. It was Prince Albert’s idea to build the balcony to enable Queen Victoria to ‘connect’ with her people. Although the interior is decorated in Chinoiserie and includes exotic treasures from East Asia, there are a couple of homely snippets to discover. There is a box, for example, that was made for Prince George – but now used by Prince Louis – to enable him to see over the stone parapet on occasions such as the Birthday Parade flypast.
The Princess Royal will be 74 on 15 August. Following an incident that occurred while walking on her Gatcombe Park estate on 23 June, the princess was concussed and sustained injuries consistent with an impact from a horse’s head or legs.
Emergency services were dispatched to the estate and after medical treatment at the scene Princess Anne was transferred to Southmead Hospital in Bristol for observation and tests. She went home five days later, ordered by her doctors to rest for as long as necessary to fully recover. This meant that her engagements, including a trip to Canada, had to be postponed for a time, but she resumed work on 12 July with a visit to the Riding for the Disabled Association.
It has been an unlucky year for the health of senior members of the royal family and at the time of going to press both the King and the Princess of Wales are continuing their cancer treatment.
Majesty is helping to fundraise for Macmillan Cancer Support: if you would care to make a donation please see page 65 for details.
