Queen Elizabeth II will receive Britain’s new Prime Minister on Tuesday at her Scottish residence in Balmoral, where she is currently staying, a first for the 96-year-old sovereign with deteriorating health, her services said on Wednesday 31 August .
The monarch traditionally receives new heads of government at Buckingham Palace in London, but difficulties in getting around had the press marveling at a return to the capital to announce the name of the person who will replace Boris Johnson at 10 Downing Street on Monday .
The Queen delegates an increasing part of her duties
Foreign Minister Liz Truss is seen as the big favorite to win the ruling Conservative Party’s internal election against former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak. On Tuesday, Boris Johnson will first travel to Balmoral, where the Queen normally spends the end of the summer, to officially hand in his resignation, followed by his replacement, a Buckingham Palace spokesman has said.
The Queen has held a weekly audience with the Prime Minister since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, which has been mainly by telephone. She has since mostly retired to Windsor Castle on the western outskirts of London, where her husband Philip died in April 2021, just before his 100th birthday.
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Since a night in the hospital almost a year ago, the Queen has been appearing less and less because of mobility problems and is delegating more and more of her tasks to her son Charles, who spoke out in favor of his position in May for the first time before the throne speech Houses of Parliament. At the beginning of June, the British celebrated the 70th reign of Elizabeth II, the world’s oldest reigning monarch, for four days.