Late Queen advised ex-PM Liz Truss they’d ‘meet again soon’ at last viewers
T
he late Queen advised former prime minister Liz Truss they’d be “meeting again soon” at her last official engagement earlier than her demise.
Ms Truss opened up about her final encounter with Queen Elizabeth II in Balmoral Castle simply two days earlier than the monarch died.
Speaking to GB News to mark the primary anniversary of the late Queen’s demise and recounting the interval that adopted, Ms Truss recalled the King was “very, very resolute” when she spoke to him on the telephone the day his mom died and his reign started.
The late Queen had welcomed Ms Truss to her residence within the Scottish Highlands on September 6 2022 to nominate her prime minister, with well being points which means she was not in a position to journey to London to take action.
The politician described the 96-year-old sovereign as showing “frail”, however she stated she was “mentally alert”, “absolutely on top of” the proceedings and reassured Ms Truss they’d meet once more quickly.
Ms Truss stated: “In the meeting at Balmoral, she was absolutely on top of what was happening.
“She was very, very keen to reassure me that we’d be meeting again soon. It was very important to her.”
She added: “Although she was physically quite frail, she was absolutely mentally alert.”
Ms Truss stated there was no indication the late Queen was gravely ailing.
“I was obviously only in the first few days of the job of being prime minister. I was thinking about many, many different things,” she stated.
“But the assumption absolutely was that this would be the first of many meetings.”
The monarch, utilizing a strolling stick, was pictured smiling warmly as she greeted Ms Truss in entrance of an open hearth in her sitting room on the citadel, showing frail however bright-eyed and carrying a shirt, cardigan, and a skirt of Balmoral tartan.
Ms Truss added: “She was very determined to do her duty, right to the end. We had a very, very good meeting. She was upbeat.”
The former prime minister recounted how she was advised of a worsening scenario on September 7 – with the postponement of a Privy Council.
“I arrived just before 6pm for the meeting. Everybody was there waiting around and we waited for a few minutes and then the news arrived that the Queen would no longer be able to do the meeting. And that was the first I heard of it. But clearly it was a very ominous sign,” she advised GB News’ royal correspondent Cameron Walker.
She stated of September 8: “Things were clearly getting even worse the next day, so it was a dawning realisation I think, not just for me, but for my colleagues, that we were facing (it).”
Ms Truss was within the House of Commons chamber for an vitality debate at round noon that day when the then-chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Nadhim Zahawi sat down subsequent to her with a notice and started urgently whispering to her.
The unique plan was for Buckingham Palace to launch a press release in regards to the late Queen’s well being at 11.15am, but it surely was delayed.
Mr Zahawi’s notice contained a press release for Ms Truss to learn out to the Commons if required.
In the top, Ms Truss left the chamber and headed again to Downing Street, and the Palace’s assertion saying Queen Elizabeth II was below medical supervision was issued at 12.32pm.
Ms Truss stated she was actually simply ready for the news and by that time knew it was “very, very serious”.
Describing the scene in Number 10 when affirmation of the late Queen’s demise reached them at round 4.30pm, she stated: “We were in the Downing Street flat with officials, other people. So when the news came through, it was sort of confirming all the worst fears that we’d had.”
Ms Truss stated she felt very unhappy in regards to the scenario, however her thoughts additionally turned to the practicalities of the times to return.
“Just knowing that I would have to deal with it. You know, part of your brain is thinking, my goodness me, this is a momentous occasion. This is our Queen who’s been on the throne for 70 years, the absolute backdrop to our lives is now gone,” she stated.
“But also, I tend to focus on the practical in those types of moments and just thinking right, I need to make sure my speech is ready. I need to make sure the right people are informed. I needed to make sure that the Cabinet ministers responsible for organising (were ready for) what was going to be a massive international occasion.”
A pre-arranged assertion for a sitting prime minister to learn within the occasion of the monarch’s demise had lengthy been drafted, however was reportedly old-fashioned in tone so Ms Truss rewrote it.
“I wanted to say it in my own words so I drafted it with a speech writer,” she stated.
She spoke to the King the identical day and supplied her “sincere condolences” and stated that throughout the transient telephone name he was “very, very resolute”.
She added of the brand new monarch: “King Charles is somebody who’d also been a very prominent part of British life. I think we’ve seen the continuity …
“I think because both of us were stepping into new roles, a lot of what you’re thinking about is the practicalities of getting things done.”
When the King held his first weekly viewers with Ms Truss on October 12, he welcomed her to the Palace by saying: “Back again? Dear oh dear.”
Mr Truss insisted it was a joke and stated the pair had been at their third assembly that day.
She paid tribute to the late monarch as a serious determine for Britain who was “still very, very, very loved and treasured”.
“And she was still very much with us until the end, absolutely,” she stated.
“And that’s what just struck me about her is that right until that moment, she wanted to be there doing her duty.”