{"id":2509626,"date":"2026-07-20T15:55:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2509626"},"modified":"2026-07-20T15:55:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:55:02","slug":"the-secret-ceremony-inside-buckingham-palace-that-creates-a-prime-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/the-secret-ceremony-inside-buckingham-palace-that-creates-a-prime-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"The secret ceremony inside Buckingham Palace that creates a Prime Minister"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>It is one of the shortest yet most significant ceremonies in<br \/>\nBritish public life. Lasting only a matter of minutes, the audience<br \/>\nbetween the Monarch and an incoming Prime Minister marks the<br \/>\npeaceful transfer of political power at the very heart of the<br \/>\nconstitution.<\/p>\n<p>Although the cameras capture the arrivals and departures at<br \/>\nBuckingham Palace, what happens behind the Palace\u2019s famous gates<br \/>\nremains a private affair.<\/p>\n<p>The process begins only after the outgoing Prime Minister has<br \/>\nformally resigned. Sir Keir Starmer will first travel to Buckingham<br \/>\nPalace to tender his resignation to King Charles III during a<br \/>\nprivate audience.<\/p>\n<p>Once Sir Keir has departed, Palace officials prepare for the<br \/>\narrival of Andy Burnham, who will become the next Prime<br \/>\nMinister.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Burnham is escorted into Buckingham Palace and shown to the<br \/>\nAudience Room, where The King is waiting. There are no officials<br \/>\npresent during the meeting, ensuring the conversation remains<br \/>\nentirely confidential.<\/p>\n<p>The Monarch then invites the incoming Labour leader to form a<br \/>\ngovernment.<\/p>\n<p>The traditional wording is understood to be along the lines of:<br \/>\n\u201cWill you form a government?\u201d Once the invitation is accepted, Mr<br \/>\nBurnham immediately becomes Prime Minister and First Lord of the<br \/>\nTreasury.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/royalcentral.co.uk\/uk\/why-britains-newest-prime-minister-will-no-longer-kiss-hands-with-the-king-218524\/\"><br \/>\nFor centuries, the appointment was known as the \u201ckissing of<br \/>\nhands\u201d.<\/a> Historically, new Prime Ministers would kiss the<br \/>\nSovereign\u2019s hand as a sign of loyalty. Today, however, the ceremony<br \/>\nhas been modernised, with a simple handshake replacing the<br \/>\ncenturies-old custom, although the historic name remains.<\/p>\n<p>A Palace photographer is then invited into the room to capture<br \/>\nthe official image of the Sovereign greeting the new Prime<br \/>\nMinister. The photograph is usually released within minutes and<br \/>\nbecomes part of the historical record of the reign.<\/p>\n<p>The audience itself is brief, typically lasting between 20 and<br \/>\n30 minutes, although it can occasionally be longer depending on the<br \/>\ncircumstances.<\/p>\n<p>Before leaving Buckingham Palace, the new Prime Minister will<br \/>\nalso receive important constitutional and security briefings from<br \/>\nsenior officials, including matters relating to national security<br \/>\nand the operation of government.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Burnham will then leave Buckingham Palace for the short drive<br \/>\nto 10 Downing Street, where he will deliver his first speech as<br \/>\nPrime Minister before crossing the famous black door to begin<br \/>\nappointing his Cabinet.<\/p>\n<p>The entire process is carefully choreographed and has been<br \/>\nrefined over generations. While governments may change, the<br \/>\nMonarch\u2019s role remains unchanged: to ensure the smooth and peaceful<br \/>\ntransfer of power by appointing the person best placed to command<br \/>\nthe confidence of the House of Commons.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"tbmarker\"\/>  <\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source royalcentral.co.uk \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is one of the shortest yet most significant ceremonies in British public life. Lasting only a matter of minutes, the audience between the Monarch and an incoming Prime Minister marks the peaceful transfer of political power at the very heart of the constitution. Although the cameras capture the arrivals and departures at Buckingham Palace, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2509627,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2509626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/The-secret-ceremony-inside-Buckingham-Palace-that-creates-a-Prime.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2509626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2509626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2509626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2509628,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2509626\/revisions\/2509628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2509627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2509626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2509626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2509626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}