King Charles III muttered “dear oh dear” as he greeted Liz Truss at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday night.
The monarch was hosting the Prime Minister in one of the palace’s grand reception rooms after an earlier meeting with the King and Queen of Malaysia.
A clip released by the Palace at the start of its weekly audience shows a pair of double doors being opened by servants and Ms Truss being escorted inside by the King’s stable.
As Mrs Truss entered the reception room, the squire announced her, “Prime Minister, Your Majesty.”
Mrs. Truss steps forward to shake the King’s hand, curtsying as she does so.
“Your Majesty, nice to see you again,” she says.
King Charles, smiling, replies, “Come back?”
To which Mrs. Truss replied, “Well, it’s a great pleasure.”
The King replies: “Dear, oh dear. Anyways.”
King Charles III meets Prime Minister Liz Truss during his weekly audience
(PA)
The meeting followed Ms Truss’ first PMQs since the mini-budget, which sent markets into chaos after the pound hit a record low against the dollar. He insisted he would not cut public spending in a showdown with Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer.
It also comes after King Charles announced he would not attend Cop27 in Egypt next month following reports that Ms Truss was opposed to the monarch making an appearance at the international climate change summit.
While there was no official rebuttal, reports quoted palace and government sources as saying that King Charles made his decision after consulting with the prime minister and that any suggestion of disagreement was false.
Under the rules that govern Britain’s constitutional monarchy, the king cannot interfere in politics. By convention, all official visits abroad by members of the royal family are made on the advice of the government and such a decision would have resulted from consultation and agreement.
King Charles attended the previous climate summit, Cop26, last year in Glasgow, but his attendance at this year’s conference was never confirmed. Cop27 will take place from November 16 to 18 in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.