Prime Minister Rishi Sunak arrives at Krati Parish Church in Balmoral Photo: Arthur Edwards — WPA Pool/Getty Images
Rishi Sunak meets The King at Sunday church service, continuing the royal tradition.
The Prime Minister arrived at Crathy Kirk parish church near Balmoral, in the Scottish Highlands, on Sunday lunchtime, before the return of Parliament from Monday's break.
This is the first time a prime minister has visited a monarch at the castle since Liz Truss hosted in the Green Drawing Room just a few days before the death of Queen Elizabeth II, who was known to value Balmoral more than any other home.
< p>Boris Johnson, Mrs Truss's predecessor, and his wife Carrie visited the estate a year earlier where the late queen first met their son Wilfred.
The prime minister is believed to have visited a church near Balmoral for the first time in five years with the monarch.
Mr. Sunak and his wife Akshata Murthy come to the church. Photo: GoffPhotos.com
Prime ministers traditionally spend weekends at church. Balmoral in September, an event that the late Queen organized with her annual foray into the castle in Aberdeenshire every summer, where she was joined by other members of the royal family.
In September 2019, the visit of Johnson and his wife to Balmoral was interrupted as the then Prime Minister urgently needed to return to London to deal with the Brexit turmoil.
They then visited again for a private weekend in September 2021. after their 2020 visit was canceled due to the Covid pandemic. Given the closed nature of the route, it is not clear if they went to church.
This is the first time. Mr. Sunak and his wife joined the royal family at the church in Balmoral. Photo: Arthur Edwards/WPA Pool/Getty Images
Last year, the annual church visit was canceled as Mr Johnson and Ms Truss visited the late queen at Balmoral to resign and appoint her as the monarch was too weak to carry out her official duties at Buckingham Palace.< /p >
Former prime ministers often spoke vividly about their stay at the castle on the traditional autumn weekend.
Margaret Thatcher reportedly found the Balmoral stay painful, with an observer writing that «weekends in the countryside with aristocrats who love horseback riding, shooting, sports and games is Thatcher's idea of torture.»
Cheri Blair recalled in her autobiography how she «was utterly embarrassed to find that all mine had been unpacked» by servants during her weekend stay with Tony Blair.
The Prime Minister is being taken to a church in the Scottish Highlands. Photo: Paul Campbell/PA
The Prime Minister was last seen visiting Crathie Kirk Parish Church with the monarch, Theresa May, who attended with her husband Philip and the late Queen in both 2016 and 2018.
B In 2019, after Mr Johnson's visit was aborted, the 93-year-old late Queen was pictured in high spirits attending Crati Kirk with then-Prince Charles and Camilla, but without the Prime Minister.
Mr Johnson's visit with his wife Carrie and Wilfred two years later was particularly poignant as it was Queen Elizabeth II's first summer in Balmoral without her husband, the late Duke of Edinburgh, who died in April 2021.
He may have attended church with the monarch that year, but Downing Street did not disclose details of the itinerary and was not seen there.
Back in political history textbooks, David Cameron once said that there is not much to «relax» — relax and relax. – in Balmoral, where the royals spend time outdoors.
Indeed, the royals’ love of blood sports on their Scottish countryside holiday seemed to be at odds with Carrie Johnson’s environmental views.
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Mr. Sunak's visit precedes his flight to India for the annual G20 summit next week.
He arrived at the small parish church in a black Range Rover along with his bodyguards.
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