Prior to 2022, has there ever been a new monarch and prime minister in Britain in the same week?
Prior to 2022, has there ever been a new monarch and prime minister in Britain in the same week?
The short answer is no. Robert Walpole is generally held to be Britain’s first prime minister. Since he came to power in 1721, Britain has never welcomed a new monarch and a new prime minister in the same week.
There have been a few close calls, though, such as when Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, succeeded the Duke of Wellington as prime minister on 22 November 1830. William IV ascended the throne on 26 June that year, upon the death of his brother George IV. The Conservative politician Stanley Baldwin was elected prime minister for the third time in June 1935, seven months before the brief reign of Edward VIII began.
In fact, until Charles III and Liz Truss began their new jobs just days apart in September 2022, the smallest gap between a new monarch and a new prime minister was a little over three months. The individuals concerned
were the celebrated Second World War leader, Sir Winston Churchill, and Queen Elizabeth II.
Churchill began his second stint at No 10 on 26 October 1951. He had developed a close working relationship with George VI throughout the war and soon established a similar rapport with the king’s eldest daughter, who became Queen upon the death of her father on 6 February 1952. Perhaps it is a case that the shorter the gap between new monarch and new prime minister, the better they will get on. Time will tell.
Tracy Borman, author of Crown & Sceptre: 1,000 Years of Kings and Queens (Hodder, 2022)
This Q&A is from the Christmas 2022 issue of BBC History Magazine
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