Tuesday, 1 Oct 2024

Queen to invite new PM for weekend at Balmoral in September

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The 96-year-old monarch is taking nothing for granted over whether her invitation will be accepted, But it is customary for the Prime Minister to travel to the Highlands in September to spend a relaxing weekend enjoying a picnic and other social events with the Her Majesty.

Aides cannot plan it until they know whether the invitation will be for hot favourite Liz Truss and her husband, accountant Hugh O’Leary, or to Rishi Sunak and his wife, millionaire fashion designer Akshata Murty.

Before that, the Queen is expected to return briefly down south to host audiences with her outgoing PM Boris Johnson and his successor.

Those audiences are likely to be at Buckingham Palace rather than Windsor Castle, although no final decision on venue has been taken yet.

The Queen, who flew to Aberdeen for her break in the Highlands on July 21, moved into the castle on Tuesday after spending almost three weeks at Craigowan Lodge, a seven-bedroom house on the 50,000-acre Balmoral estate.

She normally stays there while tourists are visiting the castle and then while the big house is cleaned for her after closing to the public.

In a break with tradition when she did move into the castle, there was no public ceremony at the gates to mark the beginning of her official residence.

Instead the small military ceremony was held in the castle for her comfort.

The Queen, who has reduced public appearances because of mobility problems, did attend events with cameras, including the Ceremony of the Keys at Edinburgh’s Palace of Holyroodhouse this summer.

But friends have played down suggestions her decision to stay out of public view signalled a worsening of her health.

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