Queen Elizabeth II Welcomes New Prime Minister Liz Truss to Balmoral Castle

The Queen has welcomed the new UK Prime Minister, Liz Truss, to her Scottish residence, Balmoral Castle, for the first time.

However, one detail from the meeting has caused concern amongst royal fans about the 96-year-old monarch’s health.

The Queen, who has mobility issues, held the audience in Aberdeenshire, and this is the first time she has been photographed since July 21 when she arrived for her summer vacation.

The Queen has been experiencing episodic mobility problems since last autumn, and the decision was taken to ask the outgoing and incoming premiers to make the 1,000-mile round trip to see her.

A statement from Buckingham Palace, issued at 1 pm today, said, “The Queen received in audience the Right Honourable Elizabeth Truss MP today and requested her to form a new administration.

Ms Truss accepted Her Majesty’s offer and kissed hands upon her appointment as Prime Minister and the First Lord of the Treasury.”

The court circular usually records that the Prime Minister kissed hands on appointment.

However, this is not literally the case, and it is usually a handshake, as it was with Ms Truss today.

The meeting took place in the drawing room of Balmoral Castle, which is furnished with a pair of green sofas, a fabric chair with a leaf design, an open fireplace, and several ancient paintings depicting horses.

After formally accepting Boris Johnson’s resignation, Her Majesty wore a tartan skirt and grey cardigan over a blue top to meet with Truss.

Photos of the audience have begun to surface, and one health matter that has got everyone talking is the Queen’s apparent blue hand.

In the images of the new PM and the Queen shaking hands, it does appear to show the monarch’s right hand has a very nasty-looking blackish-blue colour to it.

It is common knowledge that older people can bruise more easily, but the extent of the apparent damage is so big that it raises alarm bells.

Others also felt that Her Majesty was looking worse for wear in more general terms, with one social media user writing, “The Queen looks fragile, like proper fragile.”

However, the monarch appeared well and in good spirits.

She was pictured smiling broadly as she greeted Liz in the drawing room at Balmoral.

While Her Majesty held a cane in her hand, she didn’t appear to be heavily reliant on it.

Royal fans were thrilled to see the Queen looking happy and well.

A huge number immediately took to social media to express their delight at the chance to see the Royal at home.

“It’s great to see Her Majesty again.

It’s been too long,” one fan enthused, while a second added, “So much love for the Queen.”

Miss Truss, 47, followed Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May as the third female Prime Minister in British history, all three of whom have served during the Queen’s 70 years on the throne.

The day after she was declared the victor of the Tory leadership contest, Miss Truss and her husband Hugh O’Leary arrived at the Queen’s private Scottish estate in a chauffeur-driven car.

She was greeted by the Queen’s private secretary Sir Edward Young and her echory Lieutenant Colonel Tom White, much as Mr Johnson had been by when he tended his resignation to the monarch.

But new Conservative Party leader Miss Truss, who has become the Queen’s 15th PM, has, in the past, called for the monarchy to be abolished.

As a 19-year-old student addressing the 1994 Liberal Democrat conference, she declared, “We do not believe people are born to rule,” and she said she had canvassed opinion from the public who told her, “Abolish them, we’ve had enough.”

Miss Truss, who has since said her political ideas developed as she grew up, said the Queen was far too polite to bring up her previous stance when they met previously.

“I’ve already met the Queen, and she’s been far too polite to raise that issue with me,” she said during the Sky News debate in August.

Asked whether she would apologise if the Queen did mention it, Miss Truss said, “Well, I was wrong to say what I did at the time.”

Asked by a BBC reporter about her previous comments, she said she was a professional conversationalist in her youth and liked exploring ideas and stirring things up.

But she added, “I began to understand more about why Britain is successful, and part of our success is the constitutional monarchy that supports a free democracy.”

The Queen and Miss Truss have encountered each other on a number of occasions, including at Windsor Castle last October.

As Foreign Secretary, Miss Truss met the monarch when the Queen greeted a line-up of guests at a Global Investment Summit reception for billionaire business leaders, politicians, and tech entrepreneurs.

Miss Truss shook the Queen’s hand and appeared for the photographs to have performed a small curtsy.

The pair have also met at Privy Council meetings, with Miss Truss having kissed hands upon appointment and received the seals of office for each of her Cabinet roles.

She became a Privy Councillor for the first time in 2014 as Environment Secretary.

In conclusion, the Queen has welcomed new Prime Minister Liz Truss to Balmoral Castle, but her apparent blue hand has caused concern amongst royal fans about her health.