After just under seven weeks as monarch, King Charles is now on to the second Prime Minister of his reign.
Earlier today, Rishi Sunak went to Buckingham Palace to be formally appointed PM just minutes after Liz Truss officially tendered her resignation to His Majesty. Her resignation came just under two chaos-filled weeks since she held her first weekly audience with the King at the palace, where he was heard telling her: "Back again? Dear oh dear." Today after meeting with new Conservative leader Mr Sunak, Charles appointed a PM for the first time - and pictures from the meeting showed the two men smiling and shaking hands.
And according to body language expert Judi James, it appeared that Charles and Mr Sunak had a more "relaxed air" when compared to his predecessor Ms Truss.
She told the Mirror: "It looked a lot easier for Charles in terms of symmetry of movement and a more relaxed style of body language.
"There was none of the awkward large gap between them as there was with Liz, who did seem more over-awed by the meeting and keener to show deference.
"Her head was more bowed but there is eye contact with Rishi and the relaxed air shows in Charles’s amused, more jovial smiles and body language.
"This could be a meeting between two businessmen, whereas it was more a meeting of King and minister with Truss."
Meanwhile, Judi also noted another gesture that showed more warmth between the King and Mr Sunak.
She explained: "There was a mirrored greeting ritual that included eye contact, matching smiles and even a rather firm-looking, almost business like palm-to-palm handshake, with Rishi’s thumb clamped on top to suggest warmth and a lack of nervousness.
"Charles was said to have greeted Truss with a ‘Dear oh dear’ but his body language here, with his arms held straight by his sides and slightly to the back of his torso and the wreathed grin on his face, suggests he had an amusing comment handy for the occasion."
After the new leader of the country has been appointed, the Court Circular will record that "the Prime Minister kissed hands-on appointment". This is not literally the case, and it is usually a handshake.
The monarch does not act on advice nor need to consult anyone before calling upon a politician to form a government.
But the overriding requirement is to appoint someone who can command the confidence of the House of Commons – which usually means the leader of the party with an overall majority of seats in the Commons.
Last week, Ms Truss announced she was to resign - just 44 days after being appointed PM - and yesterday it was revealed that Mr Sunak had been elected to be the new leader of the Conservative party.
After being appointed by the King, Mr Sunak appeared outside of Downing Street, where he vowed to fix the "mistakes" of Ms Truss’s leadership as he braced the nation for "difficult decisions" ahead.
He said his predecessor was "not wrong" to want to drive up growth, describing it as a "noble aim".
But added: "But some mistakes were made. Not born of ill will or bad intentions – quite the opposite in fact. But mistakes nonetheless.
"I’ve been elected as leader of my party and your Prime Minister in part to fix them – and that work begins immediately."
