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By Jack Royston
Chief Royal Correspondent
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King Charles III has appointed his fourth British prime minister in as many years after the resignation of Keir Starmer—a rate of turnover higher than at any point in Queen Elizabeth II’s 70-year reign.
Starmer stepped down as leader of the Labour Party in June under pressure from within its ranks and against the backdrop of longstanding low personal approval ratings.
Starmer formally handed in his resignation during an audience with the king on Monday. Andy Burnham became the new prime minister after sweeping support from Labour politicians meant there was no leadership contest.
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Buckingham Palace said in a statement: "His Majesty received in audience the Right Honorable Andrew Burnham MP and requested him to form a new Administration. The Right Honorable Andrew Burnham MP accepted The King's offer and kissed hands upon his appointment as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury."
Burnham's wife, Marie-France van Heel, was with him during the visit to the palace.
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Why It Matters
Maintaining a relationship with the prime minister of the day is a key part of the job of being monarch and in some cases those bonds have been forged over a decade or more.
However, British politics has been tumultuous in recent years with prime ministerial life spans shortening. Starmer was the longest-serving of Charles’ prime ministers, and was in office for just over two years.
King Charles III's Prime Ministers
Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022, meaning Charles' accession came during the term of the shortest-serving prime minister in history, the Conservative Party's Liz Truss, whose tenure lasted 49 days.
Truss resigned on October 25, 2022, paving the way for Rishi Sunak to take over after a Tory leadership election. He remained at Downing Street until he lost the July 2024 general election to Starmer less than two years later.
Starmer hit that two year milestone on July 4. In his resignation speech in June, he said: "Every decision I’ve taken has been about putting the country I love first. That is why I will resign as leader of the Labour party. I have spoken to His Majesty the King this morning to inform him of my decision."
In his first speech as Prime Mininster, Burnham said: "I will put the care of people at the heart of everything I do. I will give this my all and I ask you all to pull with me.
"Let’s build a new national sense of unity, of common purpose and positivity. Let us make this the moment when Britain starts to believe again, the moment we bring back hope."
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Queen Elizabeth II's Prime Ministers
Elizabeth's first prime minister was Winston Churchill and over her first four years she built a relationship with another, Anthony Eden.
Over the four years before her death, between 2018 and 2022, there were three prime ministers, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
In total, there were 15 British Prime Ministers during her 70-year reign, who also included Harold Macmillan, Alec Douglas-Home, Harold Wilson, Edward Heath, James Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and David Cameron. Wilson, Callaghan, Blair and Brown were Labour Party politicians while the rest were all from the Conservative Party.
The longest continuous time in office was Margaret Thatcher, who was in power for 11 years between 1979 and 1990, followed by Tony Blair who served for 10 from 1997 to 2007
In recent years, British politics has been far more volatile, however, with prime ministers failing to survive a full term.
David Cameron was the last, after winning the 2010 general election and surviving long enough to contest and win again in 2015. In 2016, he then called a referendum on whether to leave the European Union, led the Remain campaign and resigned after Leave won, bringing his second term to a premature end.
Volatility in British Politics
Since then, no British prime minister has survived a full term in office. Theresa May took over from Cameron and called a general election in 2017 but won by only a slim margin.
May resigned in 2019 and was replaced by Boris Johnson who called an election that December, winning by a landslide. Johnson, though, was himself forced out in 2022 following what was termed the "Party-gate Scandal" in which government members broke their own coronavirus lockdown rules.
Liz Truss followed but was toppled when bond markets reacted badly to her unfunded tax cuts and she in turn was replaced by Rishi Sunak that same year.
Sunak made it as far as the July 2024 general election, which he lost to Starmer, who won by a landslide. However, the public sentiment toward the Labour leader swung dramatically within his first 100 days.
Nigel Farage's Reform Party, which is positioned to the right of the Conservative Party, has been leading in the polls for months in Britain, creating the pressure that ultimately forced Starmer to resign.
Charles' Relationship with Keir Starmer
Over the last two years, Charles maintained a close relationship with Starmer, whose government has sought to use the British monarchy to soften relations with Donald Trump's White House.
In 2025, Starmer brought an invitation for a historic second state visit from Charles to Trump to a meeting at the Oval Office of the White House. Starmer produced the letter in front of the media, urging Trump to respond which he did by accepting. No other president had been invited for a second visit to Britain.
Trump was then given a carriage procession around the grounds surrounding Windsor Castle, which had not taken place during his first state visit in London, reportedly for security reasons.
Trump’s well-documented admiration for King Charles added a layer of personal goodwill that Starmer was able to build on in private discussions.
After a day of warmth and pageantry, Trump and Starmer went on to sign a "Tech Prosperity Deal," a wide-ranging agreement focused on artificial intelligence, quantum computing and civil nuclear energy, backed by tens of billions of dollars in U.S. investment into the United Kingdom.
Starmer presented it as a major economic win. The agreement was later partially suspended by the U.S. over disagreements on a number of points, including U.K. regulation of American technology companies.
By 2026, the British government was using the monarchy more directly to carry political messages. King Charles’ state visit to the United States in April included a rare address to a joint session of Congress.
In that speech, Charles stressed the depth of the U.S.-UK relationship while challenging Trump's foreign policy, advocating for the importance of supporting Ukraine, pursuing peace, the judiciary's checks and balances of executive power, protecting the environment and other issues.
The king's message, delivered with Vice President JD Vance standing behind him, was subtle and carefully worded but also an unmistakable counterpoint to the Trump administration's world view and was met with repeated standing ovations from both sides of the house.
Trump remained hostile to Starmer despite the king's efforts to promote Britain's perspective on foreign policy and the president criticized the outgoing prime minister hours before his resignation announcement in June.
"Keir Starmer will resign as Prime Minister of The United Kingdom," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "He failed badly on two very important subjects – IMMIGRATION AND ENERGY."
Update 7/20/26, 8:57 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with further information and a new image.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Daniel Orton and Tony Phillips
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