United Kingdom, Liz Truss reveals the last meeting with Queen Elizabeth

She was one of the last people to speak to Queen Elizabeth, before her death on 8 September 2022. Liz Truss, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for just 45 days, published an extract from her new book “Ten Years to Save the West” in which he recounts his last meeting with the sovereign, two days before her disappearance. “Pace yourself”, which could be translated as “Keep calm”, would be the last words addressed by the Queen to Liz Truss.

The last meeting

In her book “Ten Years to Save the West”, released on April 16, former Prime Minister and Conservative leader Liz Truss, as reported in the Daily Mail, says: “This was only my second personal meeting with her. On the previous occasion, after I had been removed from another government position, you had reiterated that being a woman in politics is a complex thing. For about 20 minutes we discussed politics and it was clear that she was completely in tune with everything that was happening, as well as being characteristically sharp and witty. There was simply no sense that the end would come so quickly. The first real sign I got was on Wednesday evening, the day after I became Prime Minister. My new ministers were due to take a formal oath with the Queen joining via video link, but word reached us shortly before the meeting that Her Majesty would not be available. That’s when the machine went into action. My black mourning dress was collected from my home in Greenwich, South London. There were frantic phone calls with Buckingham Palace. I started thinking about what I should say if the unthinkable happened. On Thursday we received the solemn news that the Queen had died peacefully at Balmoral. To be told this on only my second full day as Prime Minister seemed absolutely unreal. In shock, I found myself thinking, ‘Why me? What time?’. Some Prime Ministers might have been better suited to celebrate this historic moment with soaring rhetoric and statesmanship, but that was not my comfort zone. I simply felt a deep sense of sadness. The following day I had my first audience with King Charles at Buckingham Palace. I felt a slightly bizarre team spirit between us, both of us starting in our new roles and navigating unfamiliar territory. My first weekend as Prime Minister was spent with my family, watching on television as the Queen’s coffin left Balmoral for Edinburgh. Suddenly overwhelmed by the emotion of it all, I burst into floods of tears on the sofa. I knew I would never forget my last meeting with her Majesty and especially what she said towards the end of our conversation in her living room. “Being Prime Minister,” she warned me, “gets incredibly old.” She also gave me two words of advice: “Keep calm.” Maybe I should have listened.”