To kiss hands is a constitutional term used in the United Kingdom to refer to the formal installation of the

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

or other

Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...

-appointed

government minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, ...

s to their office.

Overview

In the past, the term referred to the requirement that the office-holder actually kiss the hands of the

monarch A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority and power i ...

as a symbol of personal fealty and loyalty, that fealty and loyalty being a requirement to serve in the King's or Queen's government. In modern times, office-holders are not expected to physically kiss the hands of the monarch before assuming the role, neither at this ceremony nor at any other point in the process of installing a new office-holder. Simply being received by the monarch is taken to validate the selection, with this meeting being described in the Court Circular as "kissing hands". The invitation issued to a party leader to form a government is sometimes still described as "an invitation to kiss hands". The metaphorical kissing of hands (i.e. the appointment) does not legally take place until the subsequent meeting of the Privy Council, when the new minister is formally appointed as a member of the Council. When appointing a Secretary of State (the top rank in the

UK government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_est ...

), the protocol also involves the delivery by the King or Queen of the seals of office into the hands of the appointee. This is also valid for other officers who are keepers of seals, such as the Lord Privy Seal or the

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. Th ...

, who is also keeper of the Great Seal of the United Kingdom.

History

The ceremony usually takes place in Buckingham Palace, but it has been known to happen in

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original c ...

or Balmoral Castle. More unusually, in April 1908,

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

summoned H. H. Asquith out of the country to Biarritz, France, where the King was on holiday at the time. In his autobiography,

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

recalled being confused by the fact that the ceremony didn't involve literally kissing Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

's hands, being instead told to "brush them he handsgently with your lips". When he was ushered into the room to meet the Queen, Blair tripped on a piece of carpet and fell onto the Queen's hands. Due to the failing health of Elizabeth II, the 2022 kissing hands ceremony of

Liz Truss Mary Elizabeth Truss (born 26 July 1975) is a British politician who briefly served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from September to October 2022. On her fiftieth day in office, she stepped down ...

took place at Balmoral, where the Queen was spending the summer, marking the only time in her 70-year reign that the ceremony did not take place at Buckingham Palace. It was the Queen's last official act before her death two days later. This was the first time the ceremony took place at Balmoral since 1885, when

Lord Salisbury Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (; 3 February 183022 August 1903) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen y ...

began his first stint as prime minister.

Overview

History

See also

References

Further reading