Throughout her reign, the Queen has had weekly Audiences with her Prime Minister to discuss government affairs. The Audience is held in her apartment’s Audience room and is completely private. Though The Queen maintains a political neutrality on all issues, she has the ability to ‘advise and warn’ her officials, including the Prime Minister, when appropriate, the Royal Family website explains.
When a future Prime Minister is summoned to Buckingham Palace as a result of a General Election or a Prime Minister’s departure, he or she will attend an Audience with The Queen. Her Majesty will ask whether he or she will establish a government during the Audience. There are two possible answers to this topic. Acceptance is the most common.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer will also have an Audience with The Queen before presenting the Budget.
If Heads of State and key foreign dignitaries are in the country for business rather than on a formal State Visit, the Queen invites them to Audiences at her residences.
Buckingham Palace has posted a snapshot of The Queen’s weekly audience with the Prime Minister, which is a royal first. Her Majesty is seen talking on the phone whilst seated at her desk, dressed in a purple blouse and cardigan. From Windsor, she talked with Mr Johnson.
The Prime Minister’s weekly audience is normally arranged on a Wednesday evening at Buckingham Palace. However, since The Queen has to maintain a social distance, recent meetings with Boris Johnson were held over the phone.
Prime Ministerial audiences with the Monarch have always been exclusively confidential, allowing The Queen to talk frankly with her government’s leader and give guidance. There are no secretaries in attendance, and no minutes are made.
The modern Royal Family has been de-clawed to within an inch of its existence, with participants still exercising only informal influence.
They do have responsibilities, and one of the Queen’s main responsibilities is to approve legislation that goes across the two houses of Parliament.
Following a General Election, she must still offer her consent to a new Prime Minister.
As a result, she considers it her business to keep up with what her ministers are up to.
Weekly meetings between the Queen and her Prime Ministers did happen, but perhaps not as drastically as shown on Netflix’s The Crown.
The fourth season of Netflix’s The Crown has reignited debate about Margaret Thatcher’s leadership in the 1980s. Despite being dramatized, the program touched on her and the Queen’s differences in matters of state, especially when it came to foreign interference. Several scenes depicted the queen and a minister at odds during routine talks, as the Queen has done in the past with successive Prime Ministers.As The Crown demonstrates, it doesn’t suggest she never spoke her mind.
Over her 68-year rule, the Queen has defied existing practice on many occasions.
During the 2014 Scottish referendum, she urged voters to “think very carefully about the future,” and she reportedly “purred down the line” as the no vote won.
What is an Audience?
An Audience is simply a one-to-one meeting with The Queen. Audiences happen regularly throughout Her Majesty’s working week.
The majority of Audiences are for members of the diplomatic community, though Her Majesty also welcomes political, religious and military leaders, and people who have won prestigious cultural prizes.
Audiences generally last approximately twenty minutes, and the conversations which take place are entirely private. No written transcript or recording is made.
