For the lifetime of most people in Britain, the pattern has stayed the same.
The old prime minister would meet with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, followed almost immediately by the new one. In 2016, according to a briefing by Parliament’s library, Theresa May’s car passed through the palace gates 32 seconds after David Cameron’s had left.
New prime ministers typically arrive in their own car and leave in an official one. In between, the queen would ask them to form a government — a relic of the long-ago days when British monarchs could appoint prime ministers by their own choice rather than at the will of Parliament. The ceremony is known as “kissing hands,” although no hands are kissed.
In more recent years, there has also been an added gesture to mark departing prime ministers’ transition from public life to private: Their partners and children were invited to meet the queen.
By the time Liz Truss succeeded Boris Johnson in early September, the queen was already too frail to leave Balmoral Castle in Scotland. So the politicians had to come to her. Rather than two short car rides across central London, the handover involved coordinating flights in rough weather.
Now, the rites have returned to London, and the monarch is King Charles III. In one way, he is encountering this ritual unusually quickly: Elizabeth was queen for more than three years before bidding farewell to Churchill and welcoming the second of her 15 British prime ministers, Anthony Eden.
In another way, however, Charles served an exceptionally extended apprenticeship, remaining as designated successor for longer than anyone else in the history of the British monarchy. He took on an increasing share of his mother’s duties in her final months, including at the formal opening of Parliament.
After the initial meeting, the prime minister has a weekly audience with the monarch, conversations that are confidential but often speculated about. Queen Elizabeth’s were the subject of a West End play that transferred to Broadway in 2015.
Any future drama about King Charles is liable to quote a widely shared video in which he was shown greeting Ms. Truss at a weekly audience with a jovial “Dear, oh dear.” A person close to the Palace said it was not a criticism of her troubled tenure but an expression of sympathy during a packed schedule; they had both been at a separate meeting earlier that day.
Still, Charles may be hoping to create a less memorable scene in his meetings with Rishi Sunak.
Mark Landler contributed reporting.
