Today, The King held his first in-person weekly audience with Prime Minister at Buckingham Palace. It comes after His Majesty was recently diagnosed with a form of cancer.
Charles and Rishi have been having weekly phone calls in place of an in-person meeting.
Charles greeting the Prime Minister at Buckingham Palace. (Royal Family)
Mr Sunak was introduced by The King’s Equerry , Lt Commander Will Thornton of the Fleet Air Arm, who was making his debut in the role.
On arrival, Prime Minister Sunak said: ‘Good evening, Your Majesty. Very nice to see you. Wonderful to see you looking so well.’
The King joked: ‘It’s all done by mirrors’ to which the Prime Minister replied: ‘We’re all behind you. The country is behind you.’
Charles told Rishi: ‘I have had so many wonderful messages and cards. It’s reduced me to tears most of the time. I hear there’s been a lot more attention, interest, on those main wonderful cancer charities. Many of which of which I have been patron of for years.’
Despite undergoing treatment, The King has continued to receive his daily red boxes of government papers and has been seen attending church services at Sandringham, where he has been recuperating. He will return to London for a regular schedule of treatment.
Weekly meetings take place between the Monarch and the Prime Minister, as part of the Sovereign’s right to advise and warn his ministers. Constitutional Monarchy also gives the King or Queen the right to be consulted on government ministers.
NEW The King has held his first in-person audience with @RishiSunak at Buckingham Palace since his cancer diagnosis, telling the PM that the cards and well-wishes he’s received have “reduced me to tears most of the time”. Charles also held a Privy Council meeting today 🎥 BP pic.twitter.com/4pf6ucTbfc
— Roya Nikkhah (@RoyaNikkhah) February 21, 2024
No minutes are taken of these meetings, allowing for free conversation and exchange of opinion.
During Elizabeth II’s reign, many Prime Ministers commented that their weekly audiences were of great value to them, to hear another opinion, especially from someone who had seen so much.
Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss, the new British Prime Minister, during an audience at Balmoral, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to form a government in (September 2022)
John Major told BBC Radio Four of the sessions: ‘It was cathartic. You could discuss things with the Queen that you couldn’t really discuss with hardly anybody else.’
Harold Macmillan shared a similar sentiment that ‘the Queen was a great support, because she is the one person you can talk to’, while Ted Heath said it was ‘always a relief to be able to discuss everything with someone, knowing full well that there was not the slightest danger of any information leaking. I could confide in Her Majesty absolutely’.
