All the UK Prime Ministers who have served during King Charles III’s life

King Charles III has been on the throne since September 8, 2022 (Picture: Tim Rooke – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

In the first two months of his reign, King Charles III will have had two Prime Ministers.

Liz Truss was the first, though with her resignation after 44 days in the top job comes a successor – former Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

However, throughout the monarch’s 73 years of life, he’s seen many more Prime Ministers come and go – with most of them forming governments in the name of his late mother, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

So, just who has been PM while The King has been alive?

Clement Attlee

King Charles III was born as Prince Charles on November 13, 1948. At the time his grandfather, King George VI, was sitting on the throne – and Elizabeth was still a Princess.

Labour’s Clement Attlee was Prime Minister from 1945 up until 1951, meaning he was PM for the first three years of The King’s life.

Churchill in 1939, just before becoming PM for the first time (Picture: Evening Standard/Getty Images)

Sir Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill’s second turn as Prime Minister happened when The King was a young boy – from 1951 to 1955. Elizabeth became monarch in 1952, with Churchill already in power.

The Conservative had previously led the country from 1940 to 1945, during the First World War.

In addition to being Prime Minister twice, Churchill also won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953.

Sir Anthony Eden

County Durham-born Conservative Anthony Eden was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957.

His premiership became best known for his bouts of ill health and the Suez Crisis in 1956. His handling of the situation prompted his resignation in 1957.

Harold Macmillan pictured in 1963, the final year of his premiership (Picture: Les Lee/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Harold Macmillan

Another Tory, Harold Macmillan, succeeded as Prime Minister in 1957.

The King would have been around ages 9 to 14 when Macmillan was in office, as his premiership lasted for six years, until 1963.

Sir Alec Douglas-Home

Douglas-Home was Prime Minister for less than a year – 363 days total – in 1963 and 1964. He was Prime Minster when US President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

He left office in 1964, after a General Election saw him lose power to Labour.

Harold Wilson

Yorkshire-born Labour leader Harold Wilson became PM in 1964, after winning a small majority in the General Election.

Harold Wilson was said to get along with The King’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, famously (Picture:Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

He won a larger majority in 1966, and abolished the death penalty, and liberalised laws on abortion, divorce and homosexuality during his first six years in office.

In 1969, The King’s investiture as The Prince of Wales was held, when he was aged 20.

Wilson’s first tenure as Prime Minister ended in 1970, though he served again from 1974 to 1976.

Sir Edward Heath

In-between Wilson’s time as PM, Conservative leader Edward Heath was PM from 1970 to 1974.

In the same year, The King achieved his degree from Trinity College Cambridge in 1970, and was in his early 20s.

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Labour PM James Callaghan (Picture: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

James Callaghan

After Heath’s premiership, and the resignation of Wilson who had regained power, Labour’s James Callaghan took over the top job in 1976.

The Hampshire-born politician had previously held three key positions in government, including as Chancellor, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary – making him the only 20th century Prime Minister to have had all four important jobs.

He was Prime Minister during the ‘Winter of Discontent’ in 1978/79, a time of high inflation and significant strike action.

Ultimately, he was booted out of office with a no confidence vote, and a General Election was held in the first half of 1979.

Baroness Margaret Thatcher

Conservative PM Margaret Thatcher, often dubbed The Iron Lady, became PM in 1979.

The King, then Prince Charles, and Diana, Princess of Wales attended a Downing Street dinner in 1989 (Picture: Terry Fincher/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Lincolnshire-born Thatcher was PM for 11 years – during which time she led the UK to war in the Falkland Islands against Argentina, implemented tax cuts, privatisation of state-owned companies, deregulation and trade union reforms, and won a General Election while in office.

Thatcher was PM when The King, then aged 32, married Diana, Princess of Wales in 1981. She left the job in 1990.

Sir John Major

Another Tory PM followed in the form of Sir John Major, from 1990 to 1997.

Major was Prime Minister when The King and Princess Diana separated in 1992, and when they officially divorced in 1996.

Remaining loyal to the royals, Major recently spoke out against season five of Netflix’s The Crown – with a spokesperson calling plots about his conversations with them ‘a barrel-load of nonsense’.

Major recently rubbished the portrayal of his chats with the royals on The Crown season five (Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images)

Tony Blair

The King was around 48 when Labour’s Tony Blair became PM in 1997.

Tony Blair was PM when Princess Diana was killed in a 1997 car crash, and famously said: ‘People everywhere, not just here in Britain, kept faith with Princess Diana.

‘They liked her, they loved her, they regarded her as one of the people. She was the People’s Princess and that is how she will stay, how she will remain in our hearts and our memories forever.’

Blair was Prime Minister for 10 years, resigning in 2007, when The King was around 58.

He had married Queen Consort Camilla two years earlier in 2005.

Charles, then Prince of Wales, with Tony Blair, then Prime Minister, in 2007 (Picture: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown, a Labour politician this time from Glasgow, was Prime Minister from 2007 to 2010.

One key part of his time as leader was the Climate Change Act of 2008, which was the first of its kind in the world – and prior to that he had been Chancellor of the Exchequer for 10 years.

David Cameron

Conservative PM David Cameron formed a Coalition government with the Liberal Democrats in 2010.

He was the country’s leader until 2016, and oversaw a number of referendums during this time, including the 2014 Scottish vote on independence – to which the majority voted ‘no’.

In 2016, he resigned from his position after calling a referendum on European Union membership (dubbed ‘Brexit’). He led the campaign for the UK to remain, but ultimately the majority voted to leave the EU.

Theresa May was up next after Cameron, from 2016 until 2019 (Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Theresa May

Theresa May, the country’s second female leader, from Eastbourne, took over for Cameron in 2016, and was tasked with delivering Brexit.

The Conservative PM officially notified the EU of the UK’s intention to leave, also known as Article 50, but ultimately had to resign in 2019.

Boris Johnson

Another Conservative politician took over the premiership in 2019: Boris Johnson.

His premiership coincided with Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns, as well as the war in Ukraine.

Johnson came under scrutiny over allegations of Downing Street parties being held during the Covid-19 lockdowns, when strict rules on socialising, visiting loved ones and attending funerals were in place – and eventually resigned in July 2022, leaving the job in early September.

King Charles III’s first Prime Minister as King was Liz Truss (Picture: PA)

Liz Truss

The first PM of The King’s reign was Liz Truss, who began her premiership on September 6, 2022 and resigned on October 20, 2022 – after being in the role for 44 days.

The King was 73 when Liz took office, his reign beginning on September 8, just two days later.

Rishi Sunak

Rishi Sunak was announced as the new Prime Minister on October 24, 2022, in a quick Conservative leadership election.

He’ll be the second PM to serve King Charles III.

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Rishi will be The King’s second PM – but he’s seen many more throughout his 73 years.