State Opening of Parliament
In the
United Kingdom, the
State Opening of Parliament is an annual event held usually in October or November that marks the commencement of a session of
Parliament. It is held in the
House of Lords Chamber after Parliament first assembles in consequence of a
General Election and each November thereafter.
The State Opening is a lavish ceremony. First, the cellars of the
Palace of Westminster are searched in order to prevent a modern-day
Gunpowder Plot. The Plot of 1605 involved a failed attempt by English
Catholics to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill the
Protestant King James I and aristocracy. Since that year, the cellars have been searched, but for the sake of form only.
The Queen arrives at the
Palace of Westminster in a horse-drawn coach, entering through
Sovereign's Entrance under the
Victoria Tower. Then, after she takes on the Robes of State and the
Imperial State Crown in the Robing Chamber, the Queen enters the Lords Chamber and takes her place on the Throne, usually accompanied by the
Prince Consort. The ceremony is traditionally held in the Lords Chamber rather than in the Commons Chamber due to a custom initiated in the
seventeenth century. In 1642,
King Charles I entered the Commons Chamber and attempted to arrest five members. The Speaker famously defied the King, refusing to inform him as to where the members were hiding. Ever since that incident, no monarch has entered the House of Commons.
Once on the Throne, the Queen, wearing the Imperial State Crown, orders the
Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod to summon the Commons. As Black Rod approaches the doors to the Chamber of the Commons, they are closed in his face – symbolically to maintain the right of the Commons to debate without the presence of the Queen's representative. Black Rod then strikes three times with his staff (from which he derives his name), and is then admitted and issues the summons of the monarch to attend, in the following formula: "Mr/Madam Speaker, The Queen commands this honourable House to attend Her Majesty immediately in the House of Peers". The Speaker proceeds to attend the summons at once. The Sergeant-at-Arms picks up the ceremonial mace and, with the Speaker, leads the Members of the House of Commons as they slowly walk towards the House of Lords, walking in pairs. By custom, the members rather saunter, with much discussion and joking, rather than formally process. The
Prime Minister and the
Leader of the Opposition usually walk side by side, leading the two lines of MPs.
The Commons then arrive at the Bar of the House of Lords (no person who is not a member of the Upper House may pass the Bar unbidden when it is in session; a similar rule applies to the Commons), where they bow to the Queen. They remain at the Bar for the speech. The Queen reads a prepared speech (known as the
Speech from the Throne or the
Queen's Speech) outlining Her Government's agenda for the coming year. The speech is not written by the Queen, but rather by the
Cabinet, and reflects the agenda of the party in power in the
House of Commons. Following the speech, the Commons bow again and return to their Chamber.
After the Queen leaves, each Chamber proceeds to the consideration of an "Address in Reply to Her Majesty's Gracious Speech." But first, each House considers a bill
pro forma to symbolize their right to deliberate independently of the monarch. In the House of Lords, the bill is called the
Select Vestries Bill, while the Commons equivalent is the
Outlawries Bill. The Bills are considered for the sake of form only, and do not make any actual progress. The consideration of the address in reply to the Throne Speech is the occasion for a debate on the Government's agenda.
The Queen reads the entire speech in the same tone, so as to indicate her neutrality, implying neither approval nor disapproval of the policies she is announcing. Since the Cabinet is formally Her Majesty's Government, the Queen makes constant reference to "My Government" when reading the text. It is also customary for the Queen, after listing the main bills that will be introduced during the yearly session, to state: "other measures will be laid before you", thus giving the Government ability to introduce other bills, not mentioned in the speech.
Traditionally, the Houses of Parliament listen to the speech respectfully, keeping total silence in the presence of the monarch, neither applauding nor showing dissent towards the speech's contents. This silence, however, was broken once in 1998, when the Queen announced the Government's plan of abolishing the right of
hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords. A few members cried "no" and "shame", prompting others to shout "yes" and "hear hear". The Queen continued delivering her speech without any pause, ignoring the intervention. The conduct of those who interrupted the speech was highly criticized at the time.
The current Sovereign,
Queen Elizabeth II, has opened every session of the Westminster Parliament since her accession except in 1959 and 1963, when she was pregnant with Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, respectively, her older children having been born during the reign of her father,
King George VI.
Similar ceremonies are held in some
Commonwealth realms where there are two houses of
parliament, such as
Canada and
Australia, but the
Speech from the Throne is usually delivered by the
Governor General, instead of the
Queen, although the Queen has occasionally timed royal visits so as to deliver some Throne Speeches herself. In the
United States, a similar pageantry is used for the annual
State of the Union Address, given by the
President of the United States, in which both houses of Congress, along with the members of the
Supreme Court of the United States, the Cabinet, and the four military chiefs of the
U.S. Armed Forces, meet in the House chamber. The
Vice President of the United States and the
Speaker of the House of Representatives, the presiding officers of the Senate and House of Representatives respectively, sit behind the President duing the address.
The debate on the Address in Reply is spread over several days. On each day, a different topic, such as foreign affairs or finance, is considered. The debate provides an indication of the views of the Parliament regarding the government's agenda.
