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Rishi Sunak to receive special invite from King Charles this summer

Mr Sunak was elected Prime Minister in October 2022


King Charles greets new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
Danielle Stacey
Online Royal CorrespondentLondon
On 9 August 2023
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King Charles is set to host British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at his summer retreat in Balmoral this month.

Mr Sunak is expected to join the monarch in Scotland, along with his wife, Akshata Murthy.

Prime Ministers have always traditionally been invited to spend a weekend at the Castle, with the late Queen Elizabeth II appointing 15 heads of government during her 70-year reign.

It comes after Mr Sunak's family holiday in the US, with the couple and their two daughters, Krishna and Anoushka.

The Prime Minister previously told LBC: "The country will be left in the capable hands of the Deputy Prime Minister. So we're having our first proper family summer holiday in a few years.... We're going to California, which is where I met my wife so it's very special to us. The kids are very excited because I'm taking them to Disneyland." 

The couple own a £5.5 million penthouse apartment on Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica, as well as a Georgian manor house in North Yorkshire, and two properties in London.

Mr Sunak was elected Prime Minister in October 2022 following Liz Truss' resignation.  

Mr Sunak with his wife Akshata Murty and their children Krishna and Anoushka on holiday© Getty
Mr Sunak with his wife Akshata Murty and their children Krishna and Anoushka on holiday
One of the final images of the late Queen with Liz Truss© Getty
One of the final images of the late Queen with Liz Truss

The last photograph released of the late Queen was the monarch meeting with Mrs Truss at Balmoral when she became Prime Minister in September 2022.

Mrs Truss was in office for 44 days after stepping down amid a government crisis.

What have other Prime Ministers said about Balmoral?

26th September 1976: Queen Elizabeth II with her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, at Balmoral © Getty
The Queen was at her most relaxed at Balmoral

Former Prime Minister David Cameron once said there was not much "chillaxing" at Balmoral, with the royals spending their time on outdoor pursuits.

Tony Blair's wife Cherie also revealed in her autobiography how her son Leo was conceived at Balmoral when she left her contraception at home out of embarrassment. Cherie knew that royal household staff would unpack her luggage, as is customary at the monarch's residences.

"In 1998 I had been extremely disconcerted to discover that everything of mine had been unpacked," she wrote. "Not only my clothes, but the entire contents of my distinctly ancient toilet bag with its range of unmentionables. This year I had been a little more circumspect and had not packed my contraceptive equipment out of sheer embarrassment. As usual up there, it had been bitterly cold, and what with one thing and another..."

After the late Queen's death last September, Theresa May paid tribute to Elizabeth II by recalling her time at Balmoral. See what she had to say in the clip below…

WATCH: Theresa May recalls drive with the late Queen at Balmoral