They are two photos taken exactly seven weeks apart, which capture the traditional and ceremonial rituals of a monarch who meets the new British Prime Minister to ask him to form a new government.
They are also the beginning and the end of a story.
Many things happened between the two acquisitions, leading a nation in mourning and then into an acute and turbulent economic crisis: tectonic shifts, one after another, that many in the country had never experienced.
Queen Elizabeth II met with incoming Prime Minister Liz Truss on 6 September. It was the last time the public saw the monarch in an image of her after her 70 years on the throne. Her reign had lasted two centuries, postcolonialism, Brexit and a pandemic.
For Truss, it was a fresh start, crowning weeks of a tough battle for Conservative Party leadership with Rishi Sunak (more on that later) and handing him the keys to 10 Downing Street. His predecessor, Boris Johnson, was forced to resign amid a series of ethical scandals.
The queen, using a cane to walk after prolonged mobility problems, smiles. Truss can also be seen, from a side angle, smiling while shaking hands. The queen died two days later.
For many, the meeting was probably the culmination of the Truss presidency. After that, he darted down the hill, crashed and burned within 45 days. His libertarian economic policies have caused convulsions in the markets and have seen the pound sterling reach its lowest point against the dollar in nearly 40 years.
And now, this week, another picture: Former Treasury Chief Rishi Sunak, now the new prime minister, in the photo on Tuesday shaking hands with King Charles III.
The same Sunak who called Truss’s economic plan a “fairy tale”. He may have had the last word with his predecessor, but he has enormous obstacles ahead of him: one of Britain’s most serious economic crises in modern history.
Britain adds its third prime minister this year, and the two most recent took office without a direct mandate from the British people: they were elected leaders of the Conservative Party and automatically became prime ministers.
There is a clamor among the opposition and not just for the general elections. By law, it doesn’t have to be before 2024 and Sunak said he won’t call one; after the recent turbulence, the Tories face possible defeat at the polls as they are now.
Meanwhile, King Carlos III is safe in his post and will almost certainly survive the government. Elizabeth II met 15 prime ministers in her 70 years on the throne; Charles is in second place after less than two months. However, he is the oldest person to ascend the British throne.
In the midst of such chaos, who knows what the following photograph might show?
(with information from AP)
Keep reading:
