PICTURED: KING FORMALLY ASKS KEIR STARMER TO BECOME PRIME MINISTER
The King has held his first audience with Sir Keir Starmer, formally asking him to become Prime Minister and to form a new Government.
The two men met in the private Audience Room on the first floor of Buckingham Palace.
It is here that they will meet every week from now on, discussing Government policy and priorities behind closed doors.
Sir Keir, accompanied by his wife, Lady Victoria Starmer, arrived at Buckingham Palace shortly before 12pm.
They were met at the King’s entrance by Sir Clive Alderton, the King’s private secretary, who appeared to make a joke about the weather, gesturing towards the blue sky.
Lady Starmer, who was wearing a bright red dress, will have been invited to join her husband and the King in the latter stages of the meeting.
The audience will be formally recorded in the Court Circular as the “kissing of hands”, although it in fact featured a brisk handshake.
The historic moment was recorded by a photographer before the pair got on with constitutional business behind closed doors.
Sir Keir left the Palace via the front gates around half an hour later to make the one-mile journey to Downing Street.
The new Prime Minister appeared to step forward, leaning in towards the monarch as he grasped his hand.
Wearing a navy suit and red tie, he was photographed making direct eye contact with the monarch.
The King, also in a blue suit, appeared more relaxed, one hand held slightly behind his back.
The Audience Room, cluttered with historical mementoes and family photographs, appeared largely unchanged since the reign of Elizabeth II.
The two men stood on a French 17th-century carpet before a Canaletto painting titled The Thames from Somerset House Terrace towards the City.
Behind them, vases of large colourful flowers were positioned on small tables alongside a selection of framed photographs,
On the mantlepiece, a pair of colourful 18th-century English porcelain pheasants were perched below an English gilt mirror.
2024-07-05T11:21:24Z dg43tfdfdgfd