King Charles spoke to Sir Keir Starmer ahead of PM’s resignation announcement

King Charles spoke to Sir Keir Starmer ahead of the announcement from Downing Street that the Prime Minister was standing down.

It was widely expected that Sir Keir would confirm his tenure at Number 10 was coming to a close with reporters gathering in Downing Street early on the morning of June 22 2026 to hear him speak.

While journalists and photographers were taking their places outside, inside Number 10 Sir Keir was speaking by telephone to The King to inform him of his intention to step aside.

And during his resignations speech, Sir Keir said that he had spoken to The King ahead of his announcement. It’s believed that King Charles took the call at Highgrove House, his country residence in Gloucestershire.

The details of the conversation will remain private but it’s been confirmed that the conversation took place ahead of the public announcement that Sir Keir was resigning as PM.

The Monarch technically appoints the Prime Minister. Following a General Election, The King asks the leader of whichever group looks most likely to be able to form a working administration to take the role and form a government. However, The Monarch is guided by the will of the people. They will always ask the leader of the party with a clear parliamentary majority to form a government. In the event of no party having a working majority, talks take place between politicians to establish a coalition that will work and the leader of that grouping is then asked by The Monarch to form a government.

When a Prime Minister resigns mid term, as in the case of Sir Keir Starmer, The King will look to the leader of the party with a majority to form the government. That remains the Labour Party and, once it has chosen a new leader, they will be asked by The King to form aa government.

Every indication is that the next person to drive to Buckingham Palace will be Andy Burnham who was elected to parliament again at the start of June and who is hotly tipped to be the leader in waiting.

If he is selected as leader, he will then head the party with a working majority and so will be asked by The King to form a government. This traditional meeting is known as ‘kissing hands’ as it used to involve the new PM kissing the hand of The Monarch. That no longer takes place but technically the new leader must be asked by The King to form a government before the can take up their role as Prime Minister.

The new leader of the Labour Party will be the fourth Prime Minister of the reign of King Charles III and could take office before parliament returns from summer recess in September. That is set to happen on September 1 2026 meaning that Sir Keir’s replacement could have to travel to Balmoral to meet King Charles to take up office.

The first Prime Minister of King Charles III was Liz Truss who was toppled as leader of the Conservative Party just weeks later and replaced by Rishi Sunak. He served as Conservative Prime Minister from October 2022 until July 2024 when he lost the General Election he had called early to Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party.

Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister after kissing hands on July 5 2026. In his resignation speech, outside 10 Downing Street, he said that he was stepping aside after members of the Labour Party made it clear to him that they no longer believed he could lead them into the next General Election and win it for them. The next poll isn’t due until 2029 but Sir Keir’s tenure has been under pressure for months now.