LIZ Truss has been mistaken for a faceless “minor royal” during Australian TV coverage of the Queen’s funeral.

The arrival of the new Prime Minister and her husband Hugh O’Leary at Westminster Abbey this morning left commentators for Channel 9 baffled as to who they could be.

“Who’s this?” wondered presenter Tracy Grimshaw as Ms Truss left her car,

Co-anchor Peter Overton speculated: “Hard to identify. Maybe minor royals? Members of the - I can’t identify them at this point.”

Ms Grimshaw continued: “We can't spot everyone unfortunately.

"They look like they could be, will be local dignitaries, it’s hard to see.

"We’re looking at the backs of their heads mostly.”

As the cameras then zoomed in on Ms Truss’s face, Mr Overton said: “We’re now getting to the pointy end as they say of the [royal family]”, meaning the lower leagues.

He then appeared to stumble as he got a message in his earpiece.

“I’m just told that was Liz Truss, the new prime minister, in the distance that we could see, hopping out their cars, thank you very much,” he said.

Needless to say, the gaffe was seized on by social media and the clip replayed hundreds of thousands of times.