Johnson and partner facing overnight ban from Balmoral
● Rules for Queen’s guests mean that unmarried couples do not stay over
If, as predicted, Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister on Wednesday, he will travel to Buckingham Palace to be greeted by the Queen for the formal handing-over of power, about an hour after Theresa May visits her for the last time in office.
The timing of the Conservative leadership contest has forced the Queen to alter her plans – because she was supposed to leave London last week for Balmoral, where she spends her summers.
It would not have made sense for the 93-year-old monarch to travel 500 miles to Royal Deeside and back again for the handover.
But there is another convention which the Queen may have to break this summer, related to the delicate issue of sleeping arrangements at Balmoral should Mr Johnson become the 14th Prime Minister of her reign.
Prime Ministers and their partners traditionally visit the Queen at her Highlands estate in late summer, typically in the first week of September before the Commons returns after recess. It is believed Mr Johnson and his partner Carrie Symonds will be no different.
Yet, according to royal protocol, unmarried couples who are guests of the Queen at any of her six official residences do not stay overnight.
This Victorian rule was even applied to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, as they were then, at Christmas 2017 when, despite being engaged and invited for Christmas lunch at Sandringham, they stayed overnight at the nearby home of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Anmer Hall. By contrast, a year later, the newly married Duke and Duchess of Sussex were allowed to sleep in Sandringham at Christmas.
Unless Mr Johnson and Ms Symonds get married in the intervening time, it is difficult to see how this convention remains in place unless the Queen takes a softer line on the couple’s marital status.
An alternative would be for the visitors from No10 Downing Street to stay in a lodge on the vast estate, although that may be seen as an unnecessary snub, particularly because Balmoral has 52 royal and guest bedrooms.
If he does win the Tory leadership race this week, Mr Johnson and Ms Symonds would be the first unmarried prime ministerial couple in Downing Street in modern times.
The pair met when Ms Symonds was seconded to work on Mr Johnson’s mayor of London re-election campaign in 2012.
It is understood Ms Symonds will not play a prominent role in this week’s events, preferring to take a step back and let Mr Johnson have his moment of victory – if all the predictions are right.
Buckinghampalacedeclined to comment on issues of protocol. However, as cohabiting couples are increasingly the norm in Britain, it may be that the monarch will have to change with the times.