A day following Britain’s new prime minister, Liz Terrace, met the Queen to accept the formation of a new government, Elizabeth II died at the age of 96.
Terrace returned to Downing Street following traveling 1,600 kilometers to meet Queen Elizabeth II in the Scottish Highlands, where she accepted the invitation to form a government.
The 30-minute meeting took place at Balmoral Palace in Scotland following the Queen decided not to go to London due to health problems.
magazine said “politcoThe death of Britain’s longest-reigning queen is a moment of profound change for the country – and a massive challenge for the new prime minister two days into the job.
The Trace had just sat in the House of Commons on Thursday, following unveiling its long-awaited plan to deal with Britain’s soaring energy bills, the biggest political issue of the year.
Its announcement, estimated at £100 billion to freeze bills at their current level, would be one of the largest financial interventions ever by the UK government in peacetime.
She knew that her premiership would be judged by how she would reach the public. But when she sat down, the world changed – she received an emergency update on the Queen’s health.
Doctors put Queen Elizabeth under medical supervision. Her closest family, including her son Charles, was already on their way to Balmoral.
Four hours later, at 4.30pm, Truss was informed of the Queen’s death by Simon Case, her most senior civil servant.
Jeremy Black, Tory historian and author of Britain Since 1945 said that “the moments of interruption – and the death of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch is a prime example of this – call for statesmanship from other important political players.”
“The need for political skill is almost unprecedented,” he added. “For historians, this will be a defining moment for Prime Minister Terrace’s reputation. If she survives this crisis and shows the necessary leadership, she will emerge with the praise of the future.”
‘She can’t do anything’
Trace was due to adopt her plan on energy bills, meet US President Joe Biden and other world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York and then cut taxes at a major financial event in mid-September.
But the Queen’s death and the ensuing 10-day period of national mourning halted her best plans to pull the country out of the worst economic crisis in decades.
Terrace faces an entirely new challenge – rising to the occasion as a rookie prime minister at a historic moment for the country, as she now depends on how she responds to the Queen’s death rather than her earlier plan to freeze energy bills.
Tony Blair was the last prime minister to find himself in a similar situation following completing his fifth month in power when Princess Diana unexpectedly died in a car crash in 1997.
Blair’s unforgettable reference to Diana as “the people’s princess” in his speech that day was in tune with the nation, and indeed went down in history.
His approval rating rose to 93 percent on the eve of the Labor Party conference in September of the same year. He won praise for his sympathy at a time when the rest of the royal family has come under fire for their silent reaction to Diana’s death.
“She was going to use the next few days to establish a character,” said Stephen Fielding, a professor of political history at the University of Nottingham. “When your party is 10 to 15 percent behind and you’ve just taken over, you want to make a big impact.”
“She wanted to use this moment to make her mark in a very partisan way and to create lines between her and (Labour leader) Keir Starmer.”
“While the nation mourns the Queen’s departure, she can do nothing else but stay behind. If she tries to get herself into anything, it might backfire on her very badly,” he said.
