Nice to see you again, Ma’am: The Queen finally welcomes Boris Johnson back to Buckingham Palace for their first weekly in-person meeting since the start of the coronavirus crisis in March 2020
- The Queen finally welcomed Prime Minister Boris Johnson back to Buckingham Palace for an audience today
- It is the first time they have met in person for their weekly audience since before the start of the pandemic
- Comes after the Queen welcomed US President Joe Biden and Jill Biden to Windsor Castle earlier this month
Advertisement
Related Post
The Queen today welcomed Boris Johnson back to Buckingham Palace as she held her first in-person weekly audience with the Prime Minister since before the first coronavirus lockdown.
Mr Johnson met with the monarch at the palace this afternoon after more than a year of conducting the audiences by telephone.
They last held a face to face weekly audience 15 months ago on March 11, 2020.
A week later on March 18 they switched to speaking on the phone as the Queen prepared to socially distance herself at Windsor Castle.
They had seen each other at the G7 summit in Cornwall earlier this month.
But today’s meeting represented a significant moment as one of the fixtures of modern British political life resumed.
The Queen welcomed Boris Johnson back to Buckingham Palace today as she held her first in-person weekly audience with the Prime Minister since before the first coronavirus lockdown
Mr Johnson met with the monarch at the palace this afternoon after more than a year of conducting the audiences by telephone
The Queen has held a weekly audience with the prime minister of the day throughout her reign to discuss Government matters.
The audience, which is held in an ‘Audience Room’ in the palace, is entirely private.
The Queen had retreated to her royal residence in Berkshire just before the first lockdown at the end of March last year in what was dubbed HMS Bubble.
Mr Johnson and the Queen were pictured speaking by phone from Downing Street and Windsor on March 25 last year.
Today’s meeting is believed to be the first time the Queen has been at Buckingham Palace for six weeks since she attended the State Opening of Parliament in May.
The meeting with Mr Johnson comes after the Queen played a prominent role at the G7 summit in Carbis Bay near St Ives.
The monarch, 95, and other members of the royal family hosted a glitzy reception for world leaders at the Eden Project as she welcomed the likes of US President Joe Biden and US First Lady Jill Biden.
The Bidens had spoken at length with the Queen at the reception, with both parties smiling broadly at one another.
Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, also joined the G7 leaders at the reception.
The leaders of the G7 nations also joined the Queen for a socially-distanced family photo.
A few days later the Queen then welcomed Mr and Mrs Biden to Windsor Castle for tea.
The US President was welcomed with a reduced parade in the grounds of the castle.
President Joe Biden and Jill Biden joined the Queen and other senior members of the Royal Family at a G7 summit earlier this month
The Queen welcomed Mr and Mrs Biden to Windsor Castle for tea after the G7 summit in Cornwall
He then entered the castle through the Sovereign’s Entrance to enjoy tea with the Queen.
Mr Biden told reporters after the meeting that the ‘very gracious’ Queen ‘reminded me of my mother’.
‘I don’t think she’d be insulted but she reminded me of my mother, the look of her and just the generosity,’ he said.
‘We had a long talk and she was very generous.’
