King Charles III and Liz Truss had a rather awkward greeting at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday night (12 October) at the first weekly audience – which is essentially a brief, but entirely private conversation set to happen each week between the monarch and PM.
The clunky exchange between the pair was caught on video and is doing the rounds on Twitter… for obvious reasons too.
In the video uploaded by ITV News Royal Editor, Chris Ship, we see Truss enter through the royal doors flanked by Palace staff. She then bows and further begins to step forward to shake hands with the King.
“Your Majesty, great to see you again,” Truss said. But Charles had a possibly unexpected response.
“Back again?” the monarch said (most likely in jest), to which Truss replied, “Well, it's a great pleasure.”
The King could then be heard to say, “Dear, oh dear. Anyway…”
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It’s unknown as to why Charles said what he did, however the PM hasn’t had the best start in her new role. The meeting comes after Truss’s divisive decision to cut public spending and the mayhem that evolved after the pound reached a record low against the dollar [via The Independent].
Charles also recently announced he would not be attending Cop27 in Egypt next month after Truss supposedly objected to the monarch making an appearance at the international climate change summit. The BBC has since reported that it was a mutual decision. “With mutual friendship and respect there was agreement that the King would not attend,” a Buckingham Palace spokesperson claimed.
However, many Twitter users have found humour in the awkward moment. Lecturer in diplomacy at Oxford University, Jennifer Cassidy, described it as “a scene straight from The Office … political awkwardness and unintentional comedy at its finest”.
Another Twitter user even went as far to say, “This is one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen. 😂😂”
Others took the opportunity to show no sides, rather to state how unnecessary it all seemed. One person tweeted: “Why are women still expected to curtsey?”
Someone else said: “The fact that this meeting occurs at all is totally ridiculous.”
Perhaps next week's gathering will be… less tense?
Chloe Bowen is Cosmopolitan UK’s former Features Intern. She holds undergraduate and masters degrees in journalism, and ever since joining the Cosmo team, Chloe writes about everything from sex and dating to mental health, culture, body image and books. In her spare time, she’s likely to be cooking up tasty vegan food, in a yoga class, binge-watching crime documentaries or going on long walks with an over-priced oat milk flat white.
