Old picture showing UK PM kneeling before UK monarch is fake
It came eight years before Charles became king and a decade ahead of Starmer being elected PM
(Web Desk) - The news about a photo on social media showing Britain’s new prime minister Keir Starmer kneeling before King Charles is misleading.
The picture was shared with the caption, “Why does a democratically elected national leader kneel to a hereditary emperor?”.
But the image was taken in 2014, when Starmer received a knighthood.
It came eight years before Charles became king and a decade ahead of Starmer being elected prime minister.
The picture is consistent with one of Starmer which the British news agency said was taken by Yui Mok on Feb 12, 2014.
Mok posted the 2014 image along with pictures of King Charles meeting Starmer as he invited him to form a government following Labour’s landslide victory in Britain’s general election on July 4, 2024.
Dr Craig Prescott, an expert in UK constitutional law from Royal Holloway, University of London, said custom dictates a politician would be required to kneel before a British monarch when joining the privy council, a body of advisors to the sovereign.
“When someone joins the privy council, they swear or affirm the privy council oath,” Dr Craig Prescott said in an email to Reuters.
“When they are appointed a secretary of state, chancellor, or in Starmer’s case, First Lord of the Treasury, they swear or affirm the oath of allegiance of the privy council - unless, as with Starmer, they are already a member of the privy council - and the oath of office.”
Prescott added privy council meetings are held in private, meaning it is high unlikely a picture would emerge of a prime minister or senior politician kneeling before a monarch.
Downing Street did not respond to requests for comment.
Hence, the picture does not show a prime minister kneeling before a UK monarch. It shows Keir Starmer kneeling before Prince Charles as he received a knighthood in 2014, a year before he became an MP and a decade before he became prime minister.
