Earlier than the new prime minister addresses the nation from Downing Avenue on Friday, he should first make that all-important journey to Buckingham Palace.
Tracked overhead by helicopters from tv information stations, the convoy will wind its means by means of the streets of London earlier than pulling in by means of the imposing wrought iron gates.
As head of state, it’s the King’s responsibility to nominate the prime minister who will lead His Majesty’s Authorities, and that first viewers can be as equally memorable for the monarch as for his visitor.
It will likely be the primary time the King, 75, who is continuing to undergo treatment for cancer, has appointed a prime minister following a general election, a significant constitutional responsibility.
Buckingham Palace courtiers have cleared two slots within the King’s diary; the primary at 11am and the second, at noon.
If, as anticipated, Sir Keir Starmer is elected, Rishi Sunak can be invited to the palace first for a “departure viewers” during which he’ll formally tender his resignation.
The outgoing premier can be invited to carry his partner and kids, ought to he want, and can depart the palace privately afterwards.
Then, at noon, Sir Keir can be whisked into the gates to be greeted on the sovereign’s entrance by an equerry and Sir Clive Alderton, the King’s personal secretary.
Outgoing premier won’t meet his successor
The 2 visits can be timed with navy precision, and there can be no likelihood of the 2 politicians working into one another.
And whereas each will happen within the personal Viewers Room, they are going to be distinctly totally different in tone.
An incoming prime minister is invited to carry their partner, who’s introduced in in direction of the tip of the assembly, however not their kids.
The viewers will final round half an hour, and can be formally recorded within the Court docket Round because the “kissing of arms”, though it is going to extra most likely function a brisk handshake.
The historic second can be recorded by a photographer earlier than the pair get on with constitutional enterprise behind closed doorways because the King invitations the brand new prime minister to kind a Authorities.
As with all of their many weekly audiences to come back, the assembly will stay personal.
Nevertheless, many premiers have been unable to withstand recounting that first memorable encounter.
Sir Tony Blair recalled how he tripped on a rug and “virtually fell into the Queen’s arms” when he went to the Palace to be appointed in 1997.
Gordon Brown described his first viewers with Elizabeth II as “a congenial business-like dialog in regards to the work that lay forward”, whereas Margaret Thatcher’s husband Denis observed that the guards on responsibility on the Palace saluted as he and the brand new prime minister left, having not finished so after they arrived.
Liz Truss revealed Elizabeth II informed her: “I’ll see you subsequent week” throughout their first and solely official assembly at Balmoral on Sept 6 2022.
Till then, it had been extraordinarily uncommon for any monarch to nominate a major minister anyplace apart from Buckingham Palace or Windsor Citadel.
In 1885, Lord Salisbury was summoned to Balmoral by Queen Victoria and requested to kind a authorities. He then returned to London, with Queen Victoria appointing a authorities per week later at Windsor Citadel.
In 1908, Herbert Asquith travelled to Biarritz, France, for an viewers with King Edward VII.
However the resolution to bid farewell to Boris Johnson and appoint Ms Truss at Balmoral was deemed a obligatory concession to the late Queen’s failing well being. She died simply two days later.
On Friday, after assembly the King, the newly elected prime minister can be given just a few moments to compose his ideas and skim by means of his speech.
He’ll then depart the palace by way of the Ministers’ Staircase earlier than being pushed by means of the entrance gates in a ministerial automobile, headed for Downing Avenue, barely one mile away.
There ready for him can be that all-important lectern arrange earlier than a financial institution of cameras to carry his first phrases as prime minister to a ready nation.
