Queen Elizabeth II’s death upended the debut of new U.K. PM Liz Truss. Here’s why

Queen Elizabeth II's demise has put everyday politics in the U.K. on hold as the country plunged into an emotional mourning period.

British Prime Minister Liz Truss took office less than two weeks ago, impatient to set her stamp on government and facing an overflowing inbox of crises: soaring inflation, a plummeting national currency and skyrocketing energy bills.

Then the death of 96-year-old Queen Elizabeth II ripped up Truss’s carefully laid plans.

The epochal event has been both a challenge and a reprieve for the U.K.’s untested new leader. The monarch’s demise has put everyday politics in the U.K. on hold as the country plunged into an emotional mourning period.

“It’s given her space to think with the media off her, to plan,” said political historian Anthony Seldon. “The one thing (a) prime minister most lacks is time to think.”

Truss won a Conservative Party leadership contest on Sept. 5 and was appointed prime minister by the queen at Balmoral Castle the next day, in one of Elizabeth’s final acts.

Truss was informed that the queen was gravely ill as she announced an emergency energy package in the House of Commons on Sept. 8 that was designed to ease the impact of steep fuel bill increases driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The monarch’s death was announced a few hours later, leaving many questions about the support package unanswered as Parliament was suspended during 10 days of official mourning.

Truss’s appearances since then have been largely ceremonial. She has traveled to memorial services for the queen in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and attended the accession ceremony of King Charles III. On Monday, Truss will join hundreds of political leaders and dignitaries from around the world in the 2,000-strong congregation for the queen’s funeral in Westminster Abbey.