Queen Elizabeth II has undertaken her first in-person engagement since July as she has been photographed meeting Britain's new Prime Minister Liz Truss on Tuesday.
The 96-year-old monarch's health caused concern last week after it was announced that she would not travel to London's Buckingham Palace to accept Boris Johnson's resignation as Conservative Party leader and subsequently ask Truss to form a new government.
Traditionally this constitutional duty has been performed in the nation's capital. Instead, it was announced that Johnson and his successor would travel to the queen's Scottish estate of Balmoral where she spends the summer months.
The BBC reported that the decision to move the location of the meeting to Balmoral was made to "provide certainty for the new prime minister's diary." This relates to the queen's not making decisions about public appearances or long journeys until the day in question owing to what Buckingham Palace has officially called "episodic mobility problems."
Johnson arrived in Scotland with his wife Carrie after leaving Downing Street on Tuesday morning and was shortly followed by Truss who became Britain's third female prime minister, and the fifteenth prime minister of Queen Elizabeth II's reign, during her meeting with the monarch.
A statement released from Buckingham Palace this morning read: "The Right Honourable Boris Johnson MP had an Audience of The Queen this morning and tendered his resignation as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, which Her Majesty was graciously pleased to accept."
This was followed by a second statement, reading: "The Queen received in Audience The Right Honourable Elizabeth Truss MP today and requested her to form a new Administration. Ms. Truss accepted Her Majesty's offer and kissed hands upon her appointment as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury."
The queen was photographed with Truss in the drawing-room of Balmoral Castle, acquired and built by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in 1852, with Victoria's portrait hanging on the wall behind the new prime minister.
Along with a longline cardigan, the monarch was wearing a Balmoral tartan skirt. This tartan was designed by Prince Albert and only members of the royal family or those given permission by the queen are allowed to wear it.
This is the first time the queen has been officially photographed at an in-person engagement since July 15 when she undertook a surprise visit to a local hospice with daughter Princess Anne amid Briain's summer heatwave.
The monarch has dramatically scaled back her number of public appearances this year following a series of health scares last fall which resulted in an overnight stay in hospital for observation, as well as persistent mobility issues.
The queen has adopted a new form of working routine which sees her receive official visitors and undertake digital engagements from her now permanent base at Windsor Castle (when she is not on holiday at Balmoral or Sandringham House). This new routine does not see the queen's diary published beforehand, instead allowing her, on the advice of doctors, to decide on the day whether she feels able to take part.
The monarch is expected to return to Windsor Castle before the end of the month where Prince William and Kate Middleton are reported to have moved into a cottage on the grounds as their children prepare to start a local school.
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About the writer
James Crawford-Smith is a Newsweek Royal Reporter, based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on the British royal family ... Read more
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