London (CNN)Queen Elizabeth II will receive the UK's next prime minister at Balmoral rather than Buckingham Palace -- a historic first for her 70-year reign.
A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said the 96-year-old monarch will not be making the 1,000-mile round trip from Scotland and instead the outgoing leader Boris Johnson will travel north from London on September 6, followed by an audience with his successor.
The decision was taken for the audiences to take place at Balmoral in order to provide certainty for the Prime Minister's diary, a royal source told CNN.
The source added that if the monarch were to be experiencing an episodic mobility issue next week and the plan had been to travel to London or Windsor, it would have meant alternative arrangements being made at the last minute.
Johnson was left with little choice but to step down as Conservative Party leader in early July after months of scandals that rocked his government and led to dozens of ministerial resignations. His announcement triggered a leadership contest that saw a broad field of contenders whittled down to two: Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and former Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
The pair have spent the summer trying to curry favor with 160,000 rank-and-file members of the party. The result of that vote will be announced on Monday.
As the leader of the largest party in Parliament, the winner will be invited by the Queen to form the next government and become her 15th prime minister.
The Queen meets Boris Johnson at Buckingham Palace in June 2021.
Appointing a new prime minister is one of the Queen's core ceremonial responsibilities as Head of State -- with others being the State Opening of Parliament and the signing of parliamentary bills into law. In May, Princes Charles and William took center stage at the grand set-piece event, with the heir to the throne reading the government's legislative agenda for the year ahead on his mother's behalf.
It was the first time the Queen had missed the event in 59 years. The palace cited the monarch's "episodic mobility problems" but declined to divulge further details citing patient confidentiality. These ongoing issues, which she has faced for nearly a year since a brief hospital stay last October, have also hampered other occasions including her Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II poses in 2010 with several of the prime ministers who have served during her reign. With the Queen, from left, are David Cameron, John Major, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.
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Winston Churchill (1951-1955): The Queen was said to be in awe of her first prime minister, Winston Churchill. Once when asked which PM she enjoyed meeting with most, she replied: "Winston of course, because it's always such fun."
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Anthony Eden (1955-1957): Her Majesty found her second prime minister to be a sympathetic listener and their relationship was one of constitutional propriety. The largest political event to occur during Eden's time was the Suez crisis. During this time, he believed it was of supreme importance to keep the Queen informed, so he shared all of the Suez papers with her — the first time she had ever been shown secret government documents.
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Harold Macmillan (1957-1963): The Queen originally found Macmillan difficult to deal with, but they eventually warmed to each other. Her Majesty relied on Macmillan for his wise counsel — both while in office and after his retirement in 1963.
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Alec Douglas-Home (1963-1964): The Queen was well acquainted with Douglas-Home, seen in the back, as he had been a childhood friend of the Queen Mother. So Her Majesty worked hard to re-establish her informal relationship with him. Over the year he was in office, Douglas-Home helped the monarch name several royal horses.
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Harold Wilson (1964-1970, 1974-1976): Wilson, who came from a lower-middle-class background, became the Queen's first Labour Party prime minister. Wilson, seen here at right next to Prince Philip, often broke away from meeting traditions, and he enjoyed helping with the washing-up after barbecues at Balmoral — one of the Queen's residences. The Queen, however, warmed to Wilson's informal presence and even invited him to stay for drinks after their first meeting, which was not commonplace.
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Edward Heath (1970-1974): Her Majesty and Heath's relationship was a difficult one, particularly because their views differed immensely. While the Queen saw her role as Head of the Commonwealth to be of extreme importance, Heath favored European integration.
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James Callaghan (1976-1979): Callaghan got on famously with the Queen, but noted she offered him "friendliness, but not friendship." In an interview with the BBC's David Frost, Callaghan spoke about the moment he asked for her Majesty's opinion as he couldn't make up his mind. He said the Queen looked at him "with a twinkle in her eye" and said "that's what you're paid for."
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Margaret Thatcher (1979-1990): While Thatcher and the Queen were the closest in age, Thatcher kept their encounters strictly professional, formal and famously stiff. The "Iron Lady," as she became known, reportedly had a tense relationship with the monarch during their traditional weekly meetings. Thatcher also viewed her annual visits to the royal home in Balmoral as interrupting her work. But despite this, Thatcher is said to have been incredibly respectful of the Queen and eventually became her longest serving prime minister.
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John Major (1990-1997): John Major and the Queen provided mutual support for one another during his leadership. They shared many crises together — him the Gulf War and economic downturns, her a fire at Windsor Castle and the marital problems of her son Charles, the Prince of Wales, and his wife, Diana.
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Tony Blair (1997-2007): Blair regarded the UK's relationship with the monarchy an antiquated institution, and was determined to modernize it. In his book "A Journey," he mocked the annual tradition of visiting the Queen at the royal home in Balmoral, recalling "the vivid combination of the intriguing, the surreal, and the utterly freaky. The whole culture of it was totally alien, of course, not that the royals weren't very welcoming." Meanwhile, the Queen reportedly regarded Blair's relationship with U.S. President George W. Bush as too friendly.
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Gordon Brown (2007-2010): While it's believed the Queen and Brown shared a close relationship, it wasn't enough to secure him an invite to Prince William's wedding. Her Majesty, however, occasionally lightheartedly imitated his Scottish accent.
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David Cameron (2010-2016): The relationship between David Cameron and the Queen appears to have been a warm one. He's not only the youngest of the Queen's prime ministers, but they're also related. He is the direct descendent of King William IV, making him the Queen's fifth cousin, twice removed.
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Theresa May (2016-2019): Following Cameron's resignation, May became the UK's second female prime minister. Not a lot is publicly known about their personal relationship, but the pair reportedly built up a strong rapport over the three years May was in office. Addressing the media ahead of tendering her notice to the Queen, May described serving as PM as "the greatest honor."
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Boris Johnson (2019-present): It's perhaps too soon to understand the relationship between Johnson and the Queen. But it has been heavily speculated over, not least as a result of Johnson having to twice apologize to the sovereign — most recently after it emerged that parties were held at No. 10 Downing Street on the eve of Prince Philip's funeral when the rest of the country was facing pandemic restrictions. The other apology was reportedly back in 2019 over the unlawful prorogation of Parliament.
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The ceremony next week will be the first time a prime minister has officially tendered their resignation or been appointed outside of Buckingham Palace during the Queen's seven decades on the throne.
Several events over the last 12 months have been modified for the Queen's "comfort" with one of the most recent examples being her arrival at Balmoral Castle earlier this month. The moment is traditionally marked by an honor guard at the gates of the 50,000-acre estate but this year's inspection of the troops was held privately.
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