Kissing hands

Simply being received by the monarch is taken to validate the selection, with this meeting being described in the Court Circular as "kissing hands".

[3] When appointing a Secretary of State (the top rank in the UK government), the protocol also involves the delivery by the King or Queen of the seals of office into the hands of the appointee.

More unusually, in April 1908, Edward VII summoned H. H. Asquith out of the country to the Hôtel du Palais, Biarritz, France, where the King was on holiday at the time.

[4][5] Due to the failing health of Elizabeth II, the 2022 kissing hands ceremony of Liz Truss took place at Balmoral, where the ailing Queen was spending her final days, marking the only time in her 70-year reign that the ceremony did not take place at Buckingham Palace.

[6][7] This was the first time the ceremony took place at Balmoral since 1885, when Lord Salisbury began his first stint as prime minister.

H. H. Asquith , seen here in 1908, was called out of the country to kiss hands with King Edward VII .