LONDON — Rishi Sunak has become British prime minister after being asked to form a government by King Charles III.

Sunak met at Buckingham Palace with the king, who had just accepted the resignation of Liz Truss. In Britain’s constitutional monarchy, the monarch plays a ceremonial role in appointing government leaders.

Sunak is expected to immediately begin appointing a Cabinet today and getting to grips with an economic crisis that has left millions of Britons struggling to afford food and energy bills.

The third Conservative prime minister this year, he will also try to unite a governing party that is riven with divisions.