Queen Elizabeth II had appointed Liz Truss as Britain’s new Prime Minister just two days before her death, following the resignation of Boris Johnson.
Former Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, 47, was photographed shaking hands with the monarch as she accepted her offer to form a new government and become the monarch’s 15th Prime Minister in her 70-year reign.
The symbolic ceremony was held at the sovereign’s remote Balmoral retreat in the Scottish Highlands because the queen, 96, was deemed unfit to return to London due to illness.
“The queen received in audience the right honourable Elizabeth Truss MP today and requested her to form a new administration,” Buckingham Palace had said in a statement on Monday.
Following reports that the queen’s health was deteriorating, Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince William visited her Scottish estate, Balmoral Castle. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are also said to be making their way to Balmoral.
A bout of COVID-19 had knocked her out in February of this year, leaving her “exhausted.”
She had lost her long-term husband, Prince Philip, on April 9, 2021, and cut a lonely figure.
Following her father’s death in February 1952, Queen Elizabeth II ascended to the throne. She has held the throne for 70 years at the age of 96, making her the world’s longest reigning monarch. She has witnessed more than a dozen British Prime Ministers, 14 US Presidents, and 20 Summer Olympics.
Her eldest son, Charles, 73, is crowned King of the United Kingdom and King of 14 other realms, including Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.
After doctors expressed concern about her health, her family rushed to her Scottish home, Balmoral Castle. She had been suffering from “episodic mobility problems” since the end of last year, forcing her to cancel nearly all of her public engagements, according to Buckingham Palace.
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