Little more than 48 hours after her arrival at 10 Downing Street, the death of the Queen has thrust Liz Truss into the heart of a momentous national event almost before she has had time to find her feet as prime minister.
Ms Truss has the task of representing the nation as it pays its respects to its longest-serving monarch, while offering reassurance of continuity and stability at this moment of change.
At the same time, her position as head of Her Majesty’s government – obtained so recently – will be thrust temporarily out of the spotlight as all eyes turn to the transition to a new head of state.
For a 10-day period of official mourning, Parliament will adjourn and – while the day-to-day functioning of official bodies goes on – there will be no ministerial speeches, no government announcements, no photo-opportunities or interviews.
Ms Truss’s statement from Downing Street shortly after the announcement of the monarch’s death is expected to be the last we see of her until after the Queen’s funeral, other than appearances in ceremonial events.
That address will doubtless help to form the view which the nation holds of its new prime minister, in a way which she cannot have foreseen as she prepared to introduce herself to the country in her new role.
Most troublingly for the PM from a political point of view, the period of mourning threatens to derail plans for an emergency budget before the end of September, at which chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng was expected to set out details of her flagship tax cuts.
In many ways, Ms Truss’s position is comparable to that of Tony Blair, who had been in office for just four months when the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, played a huge role in cementing his image in the public eye.
In his first public reaction to the princess’s death, a visibly drawn Blair speaking with emotion in a rain-soaked churchyard in his Sedgefield constituency caught the mood of many Britons.
Some shuddered at his phrase-making, but many felt their own thoughts had been echoed in his words: “She was the People’s Princess and that is how she will stay, how she will remain in our hearts and our memories for ever.”
Over the following days, it often seemed that it was Blair rather than the Royal Family who was leading the nation’s response.
And he famously earned the displeasure of the Queen by persuading her that she must leave her Balmoral hideaway in Scotland and return to London as a visible expression of her family’s participation in national grief.
Of course, by this point Blair was already a known figure to the vast bulk of Britons, after three years as opposition leader and a historic general election victory earlier in the year.
By contrast, Ms Truss’s statement outside the door of Downing Street will be her first high-profile exposure to many voters who paid little attention to this summer’s Tory leadership election and were uncertain what they thought of her when she went to Balmoral on Tuesday to be invited by Elizabeth II to be her 15th prime minister.
The opinions they form of her performance could colour their views of her as a national leader for years to come, and her choice of words will have been considered in agonising detail by her team of advisers in the short time they had to prepare.
They will have had little precedent to drawn on. The Queen’s great longevity means that the last prime minister called upon to speak about a monarch’s death was Sir Winston Churchill in 1952.
In an address broadcast on all BBC channels – mostly radio in those days – the wartime premier hailed George VI as “greatly loved by all his peoples (and) respected as a man and a Prince far beyond the many realms over which he reigned”.
In a comment which may strike a chord today with many contemplating the passing of George’s daughter Elizabeth II, Churchill said that the king’s death had “struck a deep and solemn note in our lives which has resounded far and wide… stilled the clatter and traffic of 20th century life in many lands, and made countless millions of human beings pause and look around them”.
He paid tribute to George for “the simple dignity of his life, his manly virtues, his sense of duty… his gay charm and happy nature, his example as husband and father in his own family circle, his courage in peace or war”.
But he also looked to the future, comparing the 25-year-old new sovereign to her “magnificent” namesake Elizabeth I.
“Famous have been the reigns of our Queens,” said Churchill. “Some of the greatest periods in our history have unfolded under their sceptre.
“I, whose youth was passed in the august, unchallenged and tranquil glories of the Victorian Era, may well feel a thrill in invoking, once more, the prayer and the Anthem, God Save The Queen!”
Her arrival in Downing Street on Tuesday makes Liz Truss the last prime minister of the second Elizabethan age and the first of the new Carlian era. The success of her premiership may depend in part on her relationship with the new King Charles III.
