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The Queen and Boris Johnson: Why do the monarch and PM meet every week?

Boris Johnson and Queen ElizabethPA Media

Boris Johnson and Queen Elizabeth meeting on Wednesday at Buckingham Palace

Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Boris Johnson met in person for the first time in 15 months on Wednesday.

Their weekly meetings are usually private but cameras were invited in to record the start of the first face-to-face audience since 11 March 2020.

The pair have instead been speaking over the phone since 18 March 2020, after the government introduced restrictions to slow the spread of Covid.

Read Newsround's guide to find out more about this tradition.

Want to know how the UK is run? Try these stories:

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What is the relationship between the Queen and the Prime Minister?

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The Queen with Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie at the G7 summit in Cornwall earlier this month

The Queen is the head of British state, the highest representative of the United Kingdom at home and around the world.

The head of the British government, however, is the prime minister.

The monarch serves as a symbol of the country and the PM serves as the person making the UK's most important decisions.

In her role as head of state, Queen Elizabeth gives a speech at the opening of each new Parliament and makes official appearances and speeches on holidays and special occasions.

But she never publicly gives her own opinion on political issues nor are any final decisions up to her.

The Queen and her Prime Ministers

There have been 14 British Prime Ministers during the Queen's reign:

  • Winston Churchill (1951-1955)

  • Sir Anthony Eden (1955-1957)

  • Harold Macmillan (1957-1963)

  • Sir Alec Douglas-Home (1963-1964)

  • Harold Wilson (1964-70 and 1974-1976)

  • Edward Heath (1970-1974)

  • James Callaghan (1976-1979)

  • Margaret Thatcher (1979-1990)

  • John Major (1990-1997)

  • Tony Blair (1997-2007)

  • Gordon Brown (2007-2010)

  • David Cameron (2010-2016)

  • Theresa May (2016-2019)

  • Boris Johnson (2019-Present)

What happens during the pair's weekly meeting?

Handout

The Queen spoke to Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the phone every week during the coronavirus lockdown

The Queen keeps in close contact with the prime minister and is regularly kept up-to-date on all important national matters.

Weekly meetings between the pair have been taking place since she became the monarch in 1952.

The PM usually meets the monarch on Wednesday at Buckingham Palace.

No special advisers attend and there is no official record of what is said. It is completely private.

More about the Royals

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How do the meetings help the PM?

Ex-PM David Cameron said he found the meetings "very valuable" adding that the monarch was "always up to speed" with political events.

Another former Prime Minister, John Major, said he could discuss "absolutely anything" with the Queen and Labour PM Harold Wilson said it was the only meeting the details of which he could guarantee would not be leaked.

Dominic Lipinski / PA

The Queen welcoming the then Prime Minister Theresa May at the start of an audience in Buckingham Palace in 2016

In a 1992 documentary, the Queen said prime ministers feel like they can release some of the pressure they face when speaking to her.

She said: "They tell me what is going on or if they have any problems, and sometimes I can help in some way as well."

"They know I can be impartial and it is rather nice to feel one is a sponge.

"Occasionally one can put one's point of view and perhaps they have not seen it from that angle."

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