Queen will receive Boris Johnson and next prime minister at Balmoral

The Queen will not be able to travel to London and will instead receive Boris Johnson and new PM at Balmoral in historic first amid concerns over her health: Prime Minister will visit Her Majesty at her Scottish home before audience with his replacement

The Queen will not be able to travel to London to receive Boris Johnson and his successor at Buckingham Palace next Tuesday, royal officials said today as they confirmed the politicians will visit her at Balmoral instead.

Palace aides revealed that the 96-year-old monarch will receive Mr Johnson along with either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak at her residence in the Scottish Highlands, where she is on her traditional summer break.

The Queen traditionally holds audiences with outgoing and incoming premiers at Buckingham Palace, but Mr Johnson and the new Conservative leader, who will be asked to form a government, will travel to Balmoral instead.

The ceremony will mark the first time a prime minister has officially resigned or been appointed away from Buckingham Palace during Her Majesty’s 70-year reign.

The decision to hold the meeting in Scotland rather than in London or at Windsor Castle is said to have been taken now to provide certainty for Mr Johnson’s diary. Royal aides want to avoid having to make any last-minute alternative arrangements if the Queen were to be suffering from mobility issues on the day next week.

There is precedent for a prime minister being appointed away from Buckingham Palace more than a century ago, with King Edward VII being in Biarritz when Herbert Henry Asquith succeeded Henry Campbell-Bannerman.

This meant Mr Asquith, who was often referred to as HH, had to travel to the seaside town on France’s Basque coast in 1908 for the official ‘kissing-hands’ with the monarch.

The Queen welcomes Prime Minister Boris Johnson to Buckingham Palace in London in July 2019 after he was elected

The Queen will not travel to London to receive Mr Johnson along with Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak (pictured together on July 25)

Balmoral Castle, where the Queen will receive Boris Johnson and the new prime minister on Tuesday next week

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