Rishi Sunak has officially become the prime minister following an audience with the King at Buckingham Palace.
He will have been invited to form a new government and will now be heading to Downing Street to make a speech.
His Majesty appointed Mr Sunak as premier, the first British Asian to reach the top job in UK politics and the youngest since the Napoleonic Wars more than 200 years ago.
Mr Sunak’s political coronation took place as he was the only contender to get the backing of 100 MPs to enter the contest to be Tory leader after Liz Truss resigned after just 44 days in office, becoming the shortest-serving PM ever.
The ex-chancellor headed to Buckingham Palace mid-morning where the king asked him to form a government.
With the world watching the maelstrom in British politics which has seen three prime ministers in 50 days, US president Joe Biden hailed Mr Sunak’s appointment as “a ground-breaking milestone” which “matters”.
Sunak, the U.K.’s first leader of color, met at Buckingham Palace with King Charles III, who had just accepted the resignation of Liz Truss. In Britain’s constitutional monarchy, the monarch plays a ceremonial role in appointing government leaders.
Sunak — at 42 the youngest British leader in more than 200 years — is expected to immediately begin appointing a Cabinet and getting to grips with an economy sliding toward recession. The third Conservative prime minister this year, he will also try to unite a governing party that is riven with divisions.
Sunak was selected as leader of the governing Conservative Party on Monday as it tries to stabilize the economy, and its own plunging popularity, after the brief, disastrous term of Liz Truss.