2016 - Live: BBC Parliament The State Opening of Parliament


2016 - Live: BBC Parliament

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Good morning and welcome to BBC Parliament's live coverage

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In her 91st year, the Queen will open the second session

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and this is the 56th Parliament of the United Kingdom.

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And this morning, we welcome viewers to C-Span in the United States.

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I reckon it's about 5.30 in the morning in the eastern states,

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It is, of course, a Conservative government beginning its second

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though with a very small majority in the Commons,

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a government not without its problems as it faces the forthcoming

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We are focusing on a British tradition.

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The next hour and a half, we'll spend enjoying

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at the Government's new plans to be unveiled in the Queen's Speech.

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With me to help that journey along, I'm joined

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by the Conservative peer - and more importantly

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for this morning - thriller writer, Michael Dobbs.

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the historian, Professor Kate Williams of Reading University,

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to welcome the former Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons,

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Lawrence Ward, who retired last Autumn from his august post.

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You retired from your post last autumn? I wish it was retirement but

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I went to another job. You left it. Among those attending today, the

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Prime Minister. He left Downing Street the short time ago. Here he

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comes. The doors of Number Ten open. And the Prime Minister has actually

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been the leader of the Conservative Party for 11 years now.

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And we've also seen the arrival at Westminster of the Leader

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He arrived at portcullis house on the embankment, times have changed

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for Jeremy Corbyn. In 1998 he said the State Opening with all of its

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pageantry underlines the hereditary monarchy and the hereditary House of

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Lords but in the debate last month on the 90th birthday of the Queen he

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made a very charming speech. Saying, about himself, as a relatively young

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whippersnapper I'm fully in favour of a country having leaders of a

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fine vintage. He said, talking today about a highly respected individual

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who is 90. Comparing his own age, he said it proves you are never too

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late to take up a new career and learn something else. It's going to

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be quite an amazing day for Jeremy Corbyn to find himself at the State

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Opening. Kate, if I could turn to you, the

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91st year of the Queen, if monarchy was a symbol of continuity, the

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Queen is that symbol? 90 years as you say, that is true. She has

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engaged in this ceremony since 1952 apart from when she was pregnant and

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in 2011 when the Government cancelled it. She has been here at

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the State Opening every year that she possibly could, and provided

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continuity right back to when the ceremony in this form was brought in

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in 1852, and pretty much everyone has been here since except Victoria

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who took time off after the death of Albert. Looking inside the Chamber

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of the House of Lords now. They are dressed in their ermine. They don't

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wear ermine read a apparently! One of the myths is that we are always

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wearing a silken ermine is the of course this is the only day that we

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wear the traditional uniform. Unless we are introducing a new peer in

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which case we put on the robes but normally we are ordinary folks. That

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is reassuring. There are 807 of you nowadays. Quite a lot of ordinary

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folks in the House of Lords. It's too big? It is too big. We are

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briefly looking at the Queens thrown on the left and the Duke of

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Edinburgh's on the right. It is an inch shorter than the Queen's. And

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the chairs designed for Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.

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That is the Earl Marshal. The master of ceremonies today. He is talking

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to, on the right, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. And on the

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left with the beard the Bishop of London. That is Lord Willits, a

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conservative thinker, you might say. You can give me a few more names as

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we go along. They're an new and old. You can see that we have got plenty

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of young and vibrant life. We have plenty more women than the House of

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Commons. Not surprising, there is 800 of you! Per capita, as a

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proportion of the population. Going back to your earlier point, if it

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were left to the House of Lords collectively now we would count our

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numbers back quite sharply. Because there are too many and it makes it

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very difficult to work properly, the facilities are not there to enable

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us to work properly. And yet the numbers are piling up, 61 new peers

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last year. People asked darting to retire. 25 peers retired. -- people

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are starting to retire. When does it stop? It doesn't stop as long as the

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Prime Minister insists on putting fresh people in. If we are to reduce

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numbers it needs an element of self control on the part of party leaders

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to stop backing the place with their friends. This is historically huge

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for the House of Lords in terms of numbers? Used to be much smaller?

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Yes, we have seen the cutback on hereditary peers to be replaced by

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peers being made by political appointment. What we might see

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today, I'm expecting to see some sort of restriction, a veto.

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Following on from the statutory instrument. Lawrence, it is 10:30am

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in the morning, if you were Serjeant of arms, what would you be doing? I

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would probably be with the Speaker and other officials from the House

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of Commons going through the business of the day. It is the State

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Opening! We would be in our finery. When are you getting dressed?

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7:30am. It's a long day. It's a different uniform forced eight

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opening day? It is the same uniform with additional element. -- State

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Opening day. The collar that he wears is sewn onto the shoulders at

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7:30am. So that it does not slip off. It is a very long day, by this

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time you already feel as though you've done a work. As Lawrence was

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saying it has a party atmosphere, people are going there and

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celebrating our traditions and all of these peers dressing up, it's the

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only day we get dressed up and it is a bit like a fancy dress party, if I

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can put it like that. As well as being a serious occasion. Thank you

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very much. We will come back to you soon.

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So we've seen the Lords and Ladies in their ermine and tiaras.

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we'll see the Household Cavalry and Yeomen of the Guard assembled,

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ready to welcome the royal party to Westminster,

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But what kind of modern message might all this

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vicar of St-Martin-in-the-Fields Church in London's Trafalgar Square.

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The State Opening of Parliament demonstrates

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The people vote, the parliament is elected.

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Parliament proposes to make laws that the governing party doesn't

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impose its will on the population, it does it in discussion and it asks

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the Queen as the representative of the whole nation to deliver

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to parliament a description of what it proposes to do,

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Some people might think that's rather, well, I won't say naive,

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but a rose-tinted view of our democracy as it

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It is an aspirational view of our democracy, but actually,

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When one party wins an election, it doesn't ride roughshod

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The Queen presided over her first State Opening of Parliament in 1952

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and she has attended all but two ceremonies since.

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And that includes a scaled-down event in March 1974,

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after the election of a minority Labour Government.

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No carriages then, but what mattered was the meeting of the monarch,

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Today, for the first time, this ceremony is being watched

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not only by those who are present in this Chamber,

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but by many millions of my subjects.

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Peoples in other lands will also be able to witness this renewal

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I do think that the British constitution, informally,

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because there isn't a written one, has got something pretty special,

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one is straightforward democracy, you know, a democracy

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in which the majority rule, under certain constraints,

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and there is protection for minorities, but also we preserve

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that notion that there is a person, that our loyalty is not to an idea,

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it's to a person, because we have seen in so many contexts

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where loyalty to an idea can go badly wrong.

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And I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that the promises

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she made at her coronation echo through her life.

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These responsibilities mean everything to her,

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She's almost laid down her life for the country in order to play

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a role that we desperately need and seldom thank her for.

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Kate Williams, one of the things that Sam Wells told me was, I was

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talking to him before the interview, the Queen exercises her a thorough

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tea not by opposing her well, by representing and articulating the

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voice of the people. -- imposing her will. It sounds like a combo looted

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description, do you believe that? ... She enables a democracy to

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happen by being this figure at the top? And it has been vital to the

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Queen that she is politically neutral, key part of her

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constitutional lessons even to her as a young girl that she had to

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remain outside of politics. Lots of monarchs have been meddling

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excessively, but she has stayed out of politics and enabled the

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Government to do what it wish without meddling. We have had

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interesting words about the Chinese recently. Coming down the mall is

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the regalia possession of the Crown and the cab of maintenance and Sword

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of State. -- Cap of Maintenance. Behind that is the state car. With

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the two maces brought by the Serjeant at Arms in Buckingham

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Palace. We actually end up seeing, Lawrence, five maces this morning

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but you are the Serjeant of arms, weren't you? I am indeed and I would

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like to think the most important but of course that is not true. You are

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known full-time as the Serjeant at Arms? That's right. One of the

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things that struck me on State Opening day was my eyesight at

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distance is not very good and I should really wear glasses but I was

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too vain to do that. I remember the Crown, the glistening diamonds in

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the crown from all that way back in the House of Commons. When it

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catches the light it really does shine. It has already... It has

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already been delivered by armed guard from the Tower of London. It's

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in the carriage now and all being well, that is the Queen Alexandra

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State coach on its way with the horses, Firework, Perth, Ensign and

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Louis. What is the day job of the Serjeant at Arms? The day job is to

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be responsible for security and access to the House of Commons and

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it is working directly with the Speaker of the House of Commons to

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ensure that the public can get in and there is over 1 million visitors

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a year. And that Members can get around and the function can

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continue. It's very difficult as a balancing act, allowing access to

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the public but also keeping Members save so that business of the House

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can continue. This is probably not something I should mention today but

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it is that one of your thrillers is about the State Opening. Oh, yes.

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And it doesn't go according to plan? It doesn't, state openings normally

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go exceedingly well. Two or three years ago one page boy fainted. That

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hadn't really happened before and you could see the tremor of fear

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that was going through everybody, what do we do with him? Do we ignore

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the poor thing? The Duchess of Cambridge came to the rescue and

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indicated somebody should do something about the poor boy. He

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will be living out on that for a while. And your blog, the Lord's

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day? Yes, Lawrence was responsible for security. --

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Look. Security is an exceedingly difficult problem for the Palace of

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Westminster. Ten or 15 years ago when I wrote the book the security

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was in my view something of a joke and needed real review and it has

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been reviewed. I set my book with the old security system where the

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State Opening was held hostage. Everybody in that room, you will

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see, we have the monarchy, the Government, the opposition, the

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Lords, the ambassadors and judges, everybody who matters is there. The

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whole British establishment in one room. In those days we really needed

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to take rather more care of security on that day than sending around a

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few Yeomen of the Guard with their pikes to check for gunpowder.

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The action of your book takes place in the House of Lords. You said they

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can't find offices for you all? Yes, but the chamber is our main office.

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Now, there is the diplomatic corps. They are sitting behind the bishops.

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Go on, Michael. You are interested in the exercise of power. Others are

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not interested in the content of the Queen's Speech. Not at all,. We are

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talking about a drama series here, not a documentary. I had to write to

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assure people that the house of cards is a work of entertainment.

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Did you feel it was more or less accurate than you expected? I get

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the idea occasionally that there are plenty of people in Parliament and a

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swear who are auditioning furiously for parts in the next series. But

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drama does remind you that we are looking here at the functions of

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power, but at the end of the day, it comes down to people and

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personalities. And we will be looking at a Queen's Speech today

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which will set out the government's programme, but we know that

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programme will be interfered with and affected, perhaps even

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undermined by the way that after the Queen's Speech, different

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personalities will lock horns, disagree and try to move the agenda

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in a different direction. Kate Williams, you mentioned briefly

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earlier that after all, this Queen has attended all but two openings of

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Parliament, and only one non-State Opening of Parliament of the 63 she

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has been to. But Queen Victoria had a long reign as well and she got out

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of State Opening. She did. 1852 was the first one, because we had the

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first ceremony of the Houses of Parliament in. Then Albert died ten

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years later, so she declined to attend between 1862 and 1865, and

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between them and her death she came seven times. Seven times in 35

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years. That was fast maths! Yes, so she was a very infrequent attender,

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unlike our own monarch. So someone else had to open it. The Lord

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Chancellor read the speech. Did that damage the image of the monarchy? It

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certainly did from 1862 until 1865, the idea that she was staying away

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because Albert had died and she was locking herself up in mourning. It

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was a balance for her between playing the role of a morning wife

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and also playing a constitutional role which demands that a monarch is

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there at the State Opening and other events. It did create a search for

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republicanism when Victoria was not seen not just at State Opening, but

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in general. And when she did come, they expected that she would come

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again. At the of her life, it was ill health. She was not in fantastic

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health like our own monarch. It was not her greatest decision not to

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attend. Another look at the regalia procession in The Queen Alexandra

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State coach. There is a regalia escort of the Household Cavalry,

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which is commanded by Tom Horton, who rides a 17 hand gelding which is

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a veteran of these parades. This regalia procession, I think, is

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pretty close now to the Palace of Westminster. It is just coming along

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the side of Parliament Square. You can see the union Jacks on the

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right. There is now a new crossing, so it makes it quite easy to cross

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from the pavement onto Parliament Square itself, which previously was

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rather difficult. The pavement has also been considerably widened in

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front of new palace yard on the left. That is your end of the

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building, Lawrence. It is indeed, and you will see some of the

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ordinary bollards which are normally on the end of the road have been

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removed to allow the carriages to go through. The preparations for this

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started weeks ago. There would have been rehearsals at four in the

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morning over the weekend, so that everybody knows exactly what they

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are doing. It looks like a well oiled machine, but little things

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happen around the edges which are not planned for. But it usually

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works to the minute. Westminster Abbey on the right. And lined up,

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the guard of honour, the 1st Battalion of the Irish Guards and

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the Irish Guards Band to the right of the picture. They will present

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arms as the crown goes by. Any second now, they will turn left

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towards Victoria Tower and through the Sovereign's Entrance, our first

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view of the Imperial State Crown Mati Sword of State and the Cap of

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Maintenance. And when it arrives at the sovereign staircase, there is a

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kind of juggling act to get the crown out of the carriage in an

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attempt that no one drops it at the right person ends up with the crown

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at the end of the procedure is spotted with it. The first person

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who hands the crown out is the first person who ends up with the Crown at

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the end of the process. Talking of crowns, Queen Victoria did not wear

:22:23.:22:30.

it much, did she? No. This one dates from 1937 so Queen Victoria had a

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different one. They were quite in chief. That is the right word. It

:22:36.:22:42.

was a dinky Crown. This one is a full kilogram of stuff. But Victoria

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found it uncomfortable and did not wear it. She also didn't like the

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wearing of the ropes and the whole pomp. She refused to do it during

:22:53.:22:56.

her jubilee is, much against the pleas of her ministers, who begged

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her to put on the Crown and the ropes. But she was rather more

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low-key in her desire for less pomp. But this monarch does. The barge

:23:07.:23:14.

master is waiting to receive the Crown. The crown jewel, Martin

:23:15.:23:21.

Swift, has taken the crown from the controller of the Lord Chamberlain

:23:22.:23:26.

's office, who is now getting out of the carriage, Lieutenant Colonel Sir

:23:27.:23:31.

Andrew Ford. The barge master appears to be wearing his barge

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master's Mac! And the Crown at this stage is on a rather small cushion.

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And then finally, from Sir Andrew Ford to the crown jewel to the barge

:23:45.:23:52.

master, and back to Sir Andrew Ford. They have done this highly delicate

:23:53.:23:56.

pass the parcel. I was lucky enough to go to the Tower of London earlier

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this year. And although it looks splendid on the television picture,

:24:01.:24:05.

nothing beats seeing it in real life in the Tower of London, because it

:24:06.:24:13.

is so astonishingly sparkly. And it looks its most sparkly for this

:24:14.:24:16.

moment, because it has been sparkled up. The crown itself is guided by

:24:17.:24:26.

two of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms Gentlemen at Arms.

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And bringing up the rear, the two Serjeant at Arms from Buckingham

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Palace. Sorry, Kate? The Crown has a stone from Edward the confessor's

:24:43.:24:46.

ring, and it reminds us that this is the crown The Queen wears after she

:24:47.:24:50.

is crowned. She only wears it at the State Opening and after she is

:24:51.:24:56.

crowned. When she comes out of the coronation ceremony, this is what

:24:57.:25:01.

she wears, so it embodies the constitutional monarchy. There are

:25:02.:25:05.

monarchy is left in the world, but they are slightly reluctant crown

:25:06.:25:11.

wearers, aren't they? We are the most enthusiastic Crown wearers of

:25:12.:25:14.

all. The other monarchies are much more low-key in much of continental

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Europe, in Holland and Norway and Sweden. We wear our crowns,

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particularly because we have so many great stones that date back to the

:25:26.:25:29.

13th century. They are great historic symbols. Let me ask a

:25:30.:25:37.

question if I may. I have never understood, what is the Cap of

:25:38.:25:42.

Maintenance? No one can tell me what it is for, where it comes from. We

:25:43.:25:53.

will come back to that. We will watch Sir Andrew Ford, the

:25:54.:26:00.

Comptroller of the Lord Chamberlain's Office, carrying the

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Crown on its condition up to the Royal Gallery and the Norman

:26:05.:26:13.

staircase, lined by the brilliantly named staircase party of the

:26:14.:26:18.

Household Cavalry, so-called because they are on the staircase. He will

:26:19.:26:23.

deliver the Imperial State Crown to the Lord Great Chamberlain, the

:26:24.:26:29.

Marquess of Cholmondeley. At that point, the guard of honour changes

:26:30.:26:36.

to two Yeomen of the Guard, not beefeaters of the tower.

:26:37.:26:50.

And the Lord Great Chamberlain has successfully taken delivery of the

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Crown. You will see that in the Royal Gallery, everyone has stood

:26:56.:27:05.

for the arrival of the Crown. And behind the Crown will be the Cap of

:27:06.:27:11.

Maintenance and the Sword of State. They go into their positions,

:27:12.:27:16.

waiting to be carried into the procession, carried by Lieutenant

:27:17.:27:25.

Colonel Michael Vernon. The Sword of State was carried by Sir Kevin

:27:26.:27:30.

Donoghue. Kate, time for a Cap of Maintenance explanation. As you say,

:27:31.:27:37.

it is a key part of the regalia we see only in the State Opening of

:27:38.:27:41.

Parliament. It does not get out many other times. No. It is essentially a

:27:42.:27:47.

traditional part of it. Once we start questioning the regalia of

:27:48.:27:51.

monarchy, they all might seem a bit questionable. There is a suggestion

:27:52.:27:58.

that if the Crown was ever not available, we would use the Cap of

:27:59.:28:01.

Maintenance. I thought it was a present from the Pope, and the one

:28:02.:28:07.

we display is in memory of a Cap of Maintenance displayed by Henry VIII

:28:08.:28:12.

because he received it from the Pope for good work. It rather fell out

:28:13.:28:18.

between them later. The Pope does where a Cap of Maintenance of some

:28:19.:28:23.

kind at the papal coronation, before they get the three tiered Crown. You

:28:24.:28:28.

never know when you will need one. It is good to have one on hand.

:28:29.:28:34.

Lawrence, at your end of the building, the rabble end, a lot of

:28:35.:28:40.

people will think what Michael and Kate have been saying is a load of

:28:41.:28:46.

mumbo jumbo. Maybe you do? I think everyone gets caught up in the

:28:47.:28:50.

occasion. It is the day when the spotlight is on Parliament. It is a

:28:51.:28:54.

day when everyone wears that finally, and as Michael was saying,

:28:55.:28:57.

there was a bit of a party feel about the place. Actually, the

:28:58.:29:02.

Commons does like a ceremony. It does. There is nothing members like

:29:03.:29:09.

more than walking up to the House of Lords and being a bit noisy and a

:29:10.:29:17.

bit disruptive, because the Lords are very well behaved and it is very

:29:18.:29:21.

quiet when they arrive. They like to flex their muscles a bit and say, we

:29:22.:29:26.

have arrived, here we are, and they like to be noticed. There is quite a

:29:27.:29:34.

rush to get in. You lead the procession, together with the

:29:35.:29:38.

Speaker, and a lot of people are hovering around, trying to get good

:29:39.:29:42.

places in the House of Lords to hear the speech. It is one of the most

:29:43.:29:49.

contentious elements. Lots of members attend for prayers. But some

:29:50.:30:01.

members decided not to attend prayers because they want a good

:30:02.:30:06.

spot. And then they try to leap into the convoy as it is on its way to

:30:07.:30:08.

the House of Lords. You should be more bossy. There were

:30:09.:30:18.

several conversations over the years about how to corral people going up

:30:19.:30:22.

and one of the ideas was to have a rope so that Members could jump in.

:30:23.:30:29.

They need roping off! Buckingham Palace and Her Majesty The Queen,

:30:30.:30:32.

accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh in the uniform of the Lord high

:30:33.:30:39.

Admiral of Great Britain. There is only one Lord Admiral and you're

:30:40.:30:49.

looking at him. The Queen there, I think he is the only man to wear

:30:50.:30:55.

this little coronet. They set off from Buckingham Palace in the

:30:56.:30:59.

Diamond Jubilee carriage, in fact. Stunning piece of work. It took

:31:00.:31:06.

eight years to build and I suppose we are in the world short of

:31:07.:31:09.

carriage builders these days but it was built by a real enthusiasts. An

:31:10.:31:16.

Australian originally but he worked a long time in Britain. This really

:31:17.:31:23.

was very much his life 's work and although it did take a very long

:31:24.:31:29.

time to build and was extremely expensive, by the end he had to

:31:30.:31:34.

mortgage his house to pay for it. There, the carriage is drawn by what

:31:35.:31:43.

everyone tells me called sixth-grades but I think they are

:31:44.:31:47.

white horses. They have lovely names, Milford Haven, Storm,

:31:48.:31:56.

Claudia, Meg, Tyrone. Isa speced the rain is really now quite heavy

:31:57.:32:01.

outside. Kate, you arrived late. -- I suspect. It is pretty much British

:32:02.:32:06.

weather outside, foggy and raining. I think we are going to have some

:32:07.:32:12.

heavy showers today. Edward VIII only had one State Opening. That is

:32:13.:32:17.

correct because we did not have him very long. It was the year of three

:32:18.:32:23.

Kings, George V died and Edward VIII became Monaco in 1936 and not much

:32:24.:32:29.

later he abdicated to marry Mrs Simpson. It was raining so much they

:32:30.:32:39.

had to use cars. The Marquess of Cholmondley will take that into the

:32:40.:32:46.

Robing Room. Lord Chamberlain's office can be dated to the 12th

:32:47.:32:56.

century. Strictly speaking Lord Cholmondley is acting in the reign

:32:57.:33:00.

of Elizabeth II because the family does it every other reign. They did

:33:01.:33:04.

rather badly in the Edward VIII reign. They thought, oh dear, that's

:33:05.:33:12.

it. It goes to another family after that. They have done better ever

:33:13.:33:17.

since, they have had a very long reign. Since 1952. The next family

:33:18.:33:25.

to inherit will be the Carrington family, Peter Carrington, Lord

:33:26.:33:29.

Carrington, the Conservative peer, aged 97 now. Whether he does the

:33:30.:33:33.

duty himself, I don't think so but maybe. Could be his son. He might

:33:34.:33:39.

have to wait a while because this Queen is outliving everyone! Of

:33:40.:33:46.

course it is, dare one say, nonsenses of the Constitution that

:33:47.:33:51.

this is hereditary, but it works and if it works why bother looking for

:33:52.:33:58.

other alternatives? Until 1965 the Lord Great Chamberlain was an actual

:33:59.:34:03.

executive in the Palace of Westminster and took day-to-day part

:34:04.:34:07.

in the management, and that is when the law was changed to give power to

:34:08.:34:10.

the Serjeant at Arms and Black Rod in the House of Commons. You are

:34:11.:34:16.

quite right. It did change. That's what makes the Serjeant at Arms role

:34:17.:34:21.

and the role of Black Rod quite powerful. It is a huge amount of

:34:22.:34:25.

responsibility because the buck stops with those roles. The Lord

:34:26.:34:30.

Great Chamberlain now looks after the royal parts of the Palace, tell

:34:31.:34:33.

us about the remaining royal bits of the Palace. There are many royal

:34:34.:34:41.

parts and indeed his key role is to care for these Royal parts of the

:34:42.:34:44.

Palace and it is a vital role which he does actually report to Her

:34:45.:34:51.

Majesty on. She is his direct manager in that sense. Most of what

:34:52.:34:55.

we see in the glittering bits of the day are the royal bits of the

:34:56.:34:59.

Palace. The Normans their case, Royal Gallery. The Robing Room

:35:00.:35:05.

itself. -- Norman Staircase. Job share with Westminster Hall? That's

:35:06.:35:09.

right. You have to be very diplomatic with each other. Many

:35:10.:35:18.

stakeholders. Stakeholders! Imagine the Lord Great Chamberlain of 1863

:35:19.:35:22.

saying that he must consult with the other stakeholders! The great thing

:35:23.:35:26.

about those parts of the Palace is that the Queen only comes in with

:35:27.:35:29.

invitation and much of the ceremony is to show that things have changed

:35:30.:35:35.

much since the civil war and the Queen is only now allowed in by

:35:36.:35:39.

invitation and only when Parliament wishes to allow her, so that

:35:40.:35:42.

underlines how it is a constitutional monarchy, as does the

:35:43.:35:47.

tradition of the hostage MP. That hostage is Chris Hopkins. He is

:35:48.:35:54.

watching telly at Buckingham Palace. This is the procession of the Prince

:35:55.:35:59.

of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall. They are in the Irish State coach.

:36:00.:36:05.

It is pouring with rain. He is wearing the uniform of an and roll

:36:06.:36:12.

book -- Admiral of the Fleet. They are in the Irish state coach which

:36:13.:36:16.

is being pulled by their horses. And their horses, Cinderella and

:36:17.:36:25.

Bermuda. Are they black or brown? They look very gorgeous. Only two

:36:26.:36:38.

horses, actually. They are bay forces which apparently is the right

:36:39.:36:42.

word for Brown. The outriders getting off the back of the coach,

:36:43.:36:52.

they are tricky things to brake, and that is why the sand is there. They

:36:53.:36:56.

have this sharp turn and then they have two brake right in the right

:36:57.:36:57.

place. Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of

:36:58.:37:13.

Cornwall emerges from the Irish State coach and the sash she is

:37:14.:37:19.

wearing is of a Dame Commander of the Victorian order. An order of

:37:20.:37:25.

chivalry that is in the personal gift of the Queen. She is met by the

:37:26.:37:33.

Earl Marshal carrying his baton. The Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Chester,

:37:34.:37:37.

Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and great Steward

:37:38.:37:44.

of Scotland. His sash is a green sash of the order of the Thistle.

:37:45.:37:52.

The Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk will conduct the royal party

:37:53.:37:58.

up the Norman Staircase, lines not only by the Household Cavalry but

:37:59.:38:07.

the heralds and pursuivants, with their white staves of office. The

:38:08.:38:23.

Earl Marshal is not wearing the duke's robes. He is fully intending

:38:24.:38:27.

to get back to the House of Lords and will be taking the oath of

:38:28.:38:30.

allegiance before long. In the next state of -- State Opening he will be

:38:31.:38:38.

maybe wearing his duke's robes, but that is still a magnificent uniform,

:38:39.:38:43.

lovely to see it. Together with the Lord Great Chamberlain he sits as of

:38:44.:38:47.

right in the House of Lords regardless of the reforms. I was

:38:48.:38:51.

just going to say that not traditional to traditional to CDF to

:38:52.:38:53.

the throne coming to the State Opening and he first came in 2013.

:38:54.:39:00.

-- to see the heir to the throne. Baroness D'Souza on her final State

:39:01.:39:04.

Opening, she announced she would only do one term. And in fact

:39:05.:39:11.

nominations will close tomorrow for those who want to be Lord Speaker,

:39:12.:39:15.

are you putting yourself forward, Lord Dodds? I haven't yet decided to

:39:16.:39:22.

throw my hat into the ring. You are not neutral enough! That's your

:39:23.:39:28.

trouble. The Lord high Chancellor of Great Britain, Michael Gove. We are

:39:29.:39:33.

likely to get quite a lot of bills concerning his department. He is the

:39:34.:39:39.

220th Lord Chancellor, in the procession this morning. Richard

:39:40.:39:48.

Heaton. The deputy Serjeant at Arms and Amy Regan, the Lord Chancellor's

:39:49.:39:51.

private secretary, and most importantly because she is carrying

:39:52.:39:58.

the speech, the Lord Chancellor's purse bearer. It is an enormous

:39:59.:40:02.

purse and it's fair to say that she is not enormous, really quite tiny!

:40:03.:40:10.

This is the scene at Horse Guards. You can see the seating laid out for

:40:11.:40:14.

Trooping the Colour next month. It should be quite something,

:40:15.:40:16.

celebrating the Queen's90th birthday. This is the procession of

:40:17.:40:23.

the Queen and Duke that umbrella as they make their way to Westminster.

:40:24.:40:26.

-- Juba you can see a tiny bit of fanfare in

:40:27.:40:36.

the distance there. In the Royal Gallery, another part of the royal

:40:37.:40:40.

part of the House of Lords, you can see it being lined by the Yeoman of

:40:41.:40:46.

the guard. This is the bits of the Lord Chancellor's procession that

:40:47.:40:49.

have no more to do at the moment, so they are walking back through the

:40:50.:40:52.

Royal Gallery from where they came. A few moments ago. At this moment,

:40:53.:40:58.

would you be watching it on the telly? Catching glimpses because

:40:59.:41:04.

there are screens around the place. Coming to collect the Cap of

:41:05.:41:08.

Maintenance and the sort of state is Field Marshal Lord Walker on the

:41:09.:41:12.

left, and the Leader of the House of Lords and the privy Seal Baroness

:41:13.:41:19.

Stowell of Beeston. They had underlings bringing the cap and

:41:20.:41:25.

soared from Buckingham Palace but from now on they will be responsible

:41:26.:41:32.

for them. They are stood by to receive them later on. On this

:41:33.:41:43.

rather grey day, the Queen'sprocession makes its way to

:41:44.:41:47.

Westminster. The funny thing is, the one thing everyone thought when the

:41:48.:41:51.

State Opening move to May is that it would be a lovely sunny day and

:41:52.:41:54.

people would get hot in their uniforms, well, 2014 was raining and

:41:55.:41:59.

here we go again. I bet those uniforms don't stand up to much

:42:00.:42:04.

rain? They don't and they are incredibly hot, particularly with

:42:05.:42:08.

stiff collars. The House of Lords, because so many people are crammed

:42:09.:42:12.

in there it gets very hot indeed. The November state openings were a

:42:13.:42:16.

relief. This is Prince's Chamber which has never been seen in live

:42:17.:42:19.

coverage before. This is the first time there has been a camera in the

:42:20.:42:25.

Prince 's Chamber. These are the Gentlemen at Arms, standing there

:42:26.:42:28.

because they are right behind the throne, the House of Lords is beyond

:42:29.:42:32.

that wall on the right. They are stood there because they are the

:42:33.:42:38.

closest guard to the sovereign. The Yeomen of the Guard are the oldest.

:42:39.:42:42.

There is a bit of jealousy there. The captain of the Gentlemen at Arms

:42:43.:42:48.

is the Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords and he gets to wear a

:42:49.:42:52.

fantastic uniform today. And it is Lord Taylor of Holbeach. That

:42:53.:42:57.

standard, as you can see in the middle of your screen, will be

:42:58.:43:00.

lowered with an almighty sort of Walter Raleigh style flourish as the

:43:01.:43:10.

procession comes through. And the Queen'sprocession has made it to the

:43:11.:43:13.

Cenotaph. In the Diamond Jubilee coach. As coaches go, it's pretty

:43:14.:43:26.

modern? Electric windows. Going back further into history, there is a

:43:27.:43:30.

Sovereign 's Escort of the Household Cavalry.

:43:31.:43:37.

And the coachman are Mr Hargreaves, Kemp and McGregor. It is still

:43:38.:43:48.

magnificent even though it is damp. Truly magnificent, we will never see

:43:49.:43:52.

any kind of ceremony like this unless it is a coronation. This is

:43:53.:43:57.

the most ceremonial moment we will see a harmonic engaging in apart

:43:58.:44:01.

from the coronation. It is something very special and it obviously dates

:44:02.:44:06.

back to 1852, but the ceremony itself goes back to the 17th-century

:44:07.:44:10.

and beyond to the Middle Ages. The ball will be wondering what these

:44:11.:44:15.

uniforms are, why is this setup like this simply to go and read a speech?

:44:16.:44:20.

But it symbolises the constitutional monarchy. They have rather lost grip

:44:21.:44:24.

of the ceremony because Queen Victoria didn't turn up and got a

:44:25.:44:28.

bit lazy and hopeless and badly organised, didn't it? There was a

:44:29.:44:34.

Royal commission to look at it, and get it properly set up by Edward

:44:35.:44:39.

VII? Certainly Edward VII was a stickler for ceremony and he noticed

:44:40.:44:43.

that because his mother hadn't shown up and also she wasn't very

:44:44.:44:47.

interested in royal regalia, she was much more interested in the details

:44:48.:44:50.

of what monarchy did, he was concerned that the monarchy was

:44:51.:44:55.

losing respect and had to be reinvigorated at the start of the

:44:56.:44:58.

20th-century and it was crucial to re-examine this and it's thanks to

:44:59.:45:01.

him that we have the ceremony we have today.

:45:02.:45:52.

I think we should maybe stick with those pictures as the carriage head

:45:53.:46:01.

through into the Sovereign's Entrance.

:46:02.:46:06.

We are going to see a bit of a change this year. There are six

:46:07.:46:28.

horses drawing the carriage. Although the Earl Marshal

:46:29.:46:32.

acknowledges The Queen, she goes by the sovereign staircase. And this is

:46:33.:46:42.

where the great lift of state will come into play this year. As The

:46:43.:46:53.

Queen arrives at the Palace of Westminster, when she steps out, the

:46:54.:47:01.

Union Jack will be replaced by the sovereign standard. This year, the

:47:02.:47:08.

Norman staircase, as many will sympathise, way too much for The

:47:09.:47:17.

Queen and Prince Philip. Prince Philip is 95 in June. So there is a

:47:18.:47:26.

little lift, and it comes out just to the left of your screen.

:47:27.:47:33.

Actually, I discovered that it is one of the royal parts of the Palace

:47:34.:47:40.

of Westminster, this lift. Many of us are surprised that The Queen has

:47:41.:47:44.

not had to use a lift before and we are impressed that she has been

:47:45.:47:49.

using the stairs for so long. It is absolutely amazing. And it is a

:47:50.:47:53.

jolly long staircase. And very steep, especially when you are

:47:54.:47:57.

wearing such heavy regalia. I tried this lift a couple of days ago. It

:47:58.:48:03.

takes 15 seconds from the moment you press the right button. You did your

:48:04.:48:10.

research! Very exacting research. 15 seconds from pressing the button to

:48:11.:48:15.

the doors opening at this level here. But the time in the lift is

:48:16.:48:21.

only six to seven seconds. The thing I should not be mentioning here is,

:48:22.:48:25.

it is not noted for its reliability, this lift. The Lord Great

:48:26.:48:29.

Chamberlain has successfully emerged from the lift, followed by The Queen

:48:30.:48:36.

and Prince Philip. And I think there are all smiling because it went

:48:37.:48:41.

well. Lawrence? There are some notoriety about the lift. A couple

:48:42.:48:46.

of years ago, The Queen and Prince Philip and Black Rod got into the

:48:47.:48:50.

lift to go down, and unfortunately, somebody in one of the floors above

:48:51.:48:54.

pressed the call on the lift, so the lift went up instead and when it

:48:55.:48:58.

opened, there were two cleaners waiting to get in. You can imagine

:48:59.:49:01.

the shock on their faces when the door opened and there was The Queen

:49:02.:49:05.

and Duke of Edinburgh and Black Rod! But they found it very amusing. It

:49:06.:49:09.

worked this morning, and that the main thing. Actually, The Queen does

:49:10.:49:14.

come to the Palace of Westminster at other times. Yes, for State Opening,

:49:15.:49:19.

we have all the ritual, but she comes at other times. Probably a

:49:20.:49:25.

couple of times a year. For what sort of thing? I last met her when

:49:26.:49:29.

she wanted to look at her new window in Westminster Hall. There are the

:49:30.:49:34.

two Serjeant at arms from Buckingham Palace. We have seen four of them so

:49:35.:49:41.

far. But we have not seen the Serjeant at Arms. So she came to

:49:42.:49:44.

look at the new window in Westminster Hall? Yes. And she has

:49:45.:49:50.

held receptions in the Royal Gallery. And met staff. So she comes

:49:51.:50:00.

a couple of times a year. And those are different occasions, informal.

:50:01.:50:04.

There is Black Rod. The window we were talking about was paid for

:50:05.:50:11.

privately, so it was a personal gift from us to Her Majesty. The

:50:12.:50:21.

procession has arrived in the House of Lords. There are now in the world

:50:22.:50:26.

gallery. The heralds are facing the Robing Room. The Queen is in the

:50:27.:50:31.

Robing Room. It takes about nine minutes to put on the parliamentary

:50:32.:50:35.

robe and the Imperial State Crown. This is an ancient ceremony, one

:50:36.:50:38.

which Henry VIII himself might recognise at least parts of.

:50:39.:50:44.

The man charged with organising things

:50:45.:50:45.

inside the Palace of Westminster is the Duke of Norfolk,

:50:46.:50:48.

who is Earl Marshal of England and in fact

:50:49.:50:50.

England's premier Duke. I caught up with him a few days ago.

:50:51.:51:13.

We've had the job of Earl Marshal since 1483.

:51:14.:51:15.

We were given it along with the Dukedom of Norfolk

:51:16.:51:17.

We lost it again at the bottle of Bosworth in 1485.

:51:18.:51:21.

And throughout the whole of the 16th century,

:51:22.:51:23.

It's actually been hereditary in my family since 1672,

:51:24.:51:27.

It's all for love of Queen and country.

:51:28.:51:33.

There is absolutely no pay, no re-claiming expenses or anything.

:51:34.:51:35.

And indeed, things like the uniform cost quite a lot of money.

:51:36.:51:38.

The Earl Marshall organises great state occasions

:51:39.:51:41.

at the State Opening, overseeing 100 or so yeomen,

:51:42.:51:43.

Until the early years of this century, one of its duties involved

:51:44.:51:48.

walking backwards in front of the Queen.

:51:49.:51:50.

There was actually a period in the early noughties

:51:51.:51:56.

when we dumbed down somewhat and we stopped walking backwards

:51:57.:51:58.

It was somewhat frustrating that I'd just mastered the art of walking

:51:59.:52:04.

backwards by remembering the carpet pattern.

:52:05.:52:05.

That's how you do it, to avoid walking into the pillar

:52:06.:52:08.

I'd just mastered it when we decided to do away with it.

:52:09.:52:14.

But now I don't think that will come back.

:52:15.:52:17.

As ever, rehearsal and timing are key.

:52:18.:52:20.

In 2015, the Queen arrived at Parliament

:52:21.:52:23.

rather earlier than expected, and that meant Black Rod

:52:24.:52:27.

being kept waiting while the Commons finished prayers.

:52:28.:52:33.

I thought as I was processing down the Royal Gallery, oh my God,

:52:34.:52:36.

But I think he had to wait for about a minute and a quarter.

:52:37.:52:42.

But we try to make sure that we improvise and keep the show going.

:52:43.:52:59.

Just imagine the moment, the trumpets, the fanfare.

:53:00.:53:03.

The Queen is ready to come out of the Robing Room.

:53:04.:53:07.

What do you do at that point and what are you thinking at that point?

:53:08.:53:12.

I'm thinking about all the things that are going to happen

:53:13.:53:19.

I'm hoping that prayers will have finished in the Commons and Black

:53:20.:53:24.

I'm hoping that everybody is going to end up

:53:25.:53:29.

in the right place on the throne, in the House of Lords.

:53:30.:53:32.

I'm hoping that the Lord Chancellor will deliver the speech OK.

:53:33.:53:36.

And I'm hoping that when, after the speech is over,

:53:37.:53:39.

when we exit, that everyone will go through the right door.

:53:40.:53:41.

I'm terribly keen, as everybody is, that it goes well, that it

:53:42.:53:50.

Ceremonial and pageantry is something that we do very

:53:51.:53:54.

We are known in the world over for this.

:53:55.:53:59.

I think tourism is our second or third biggest industry.

:54:00.:54:03.

So I certainly get nervous and I'm quite relieved when it's over.

:54:04.:54:17.

We have got all that to come. Lawrence, Black Rod was actually

:54:18.:54:25.

kept out of the Commons a couple of times in your tenure. What have you

:54:26.:54:31.

got against him? He is known for being a bit erratic with his timing.

:54:32.:54:41.

There is your successor, Kamal el Hajji. He lays the mace. He did that

:54:42.:54:47.

very well. I bumped into him coming out of Westminster Underground

:54:48.:54:50.

station. He is rarely looking forward to today. He loves -- he's

:54:51.:54:54.

really looking forward to today. He loves the uniform. Black Rod set off

:54:55.:55:05.

early, but The Queen dispatches him. I know you are being diplomatic

:55:06.:55:11.

here. It is ironic, because a few weeks before, Black Rod was late for

:55:12.:55:15.

a march in of the troops. The principal doorkeeper asked where he

:55:16.:55:22.

was. We saw him from a distance, and they said, hurry up, Black Rod! And

:55:23.:55:30.

just a few weeks later, he was early for banging on the door of the

:55:31.:55:35.

Commons. On that occasion, the principal doorkeeper said to me, he

:55:36.:55:39.

is on his way already. So I said, get him to wait! But I think he was

:55:40.:55:45.

signalled early. Someone in the House of Lords, I will not say who,

:55:46.:55:48.

was getting a bit impatient. So the Lord Great Chamberlain signalled for

:55:49.:55:53.

Black Rod to go to the Commons, and we were still in the middle of

:55:54.:55:56.

prayers, so we had to ask him to slow down. It is said that The Queen

:55:57.:56:01.

doesn't like sitting on the throne fall that time, waiting for the

:56:02.:56:05.

Commons to turn up. Anything she can do to speed up the process, she

:56:06.:56:10.

will. It wasn't The Queen. And it ended up being far longer because of

:56:11.:56:16.

the waiting. Kate, the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl Marshal said

:56:17.:56:20.

tourism is important and it is lovely for tourists, but there must

:56:21.:56:23.

be more to the monarchy if it is to really fast, than that tourists like

:56:24.:56:30.

it? Yes. A lot of tourists don't know much about the opening of

:56:31.:56:34.

Parliament. I would not say tourists come just to watch this. They would

:56:35.:56:38.

have to be hard-core ceremonial fans. We have our viewers today in

:56:39.:56:43.

the United States. There are viewers, but this is not about

:56:44.:56:47.

tourism, it is about underlining the fact that the monarch is the guest

:56:48.:56:52.

of the house is of Parliament, the fact that the monarch is not there

:56:53.:56:56.

to interfere. She has to read out the speech. She is the guest. She is

:56:57.:57:05.

there at their discretion. It is not about the pomp, but to underline

:57:06.:57:08.

that this is the most important thing that the monarch does, to

:57:09.:57:12.

preside over the cost additional system. That is why she gets her

:57:13.:57:17.

crown out. -- the constitutional system. It is the job of the Head of

:57:18.:57:22.

State. It is much more important than the royal wedding. It might not

:57:23.:57:28.

be seen as the most exciting, but this is the key moment which

:57:29.:57:33.

underlines the relationship between state and monarch. Michael, at this

:57:34.:57:37.

point, you will have been sitting in the House of Lords. You have to take

:57:38.:57:40.

your seats quite early. You will have been there and our buy now. You

:57:41.:57:46.

don't get dedicated seats. So there is a bit of a bunfight. The earlier

:57:47.:57:52.

you get there, the better your seat. Can you save them for each other?

:57:53.:57:57.

No, you can't. I remember arriving late a couple of years ago because I

:57:58.:58:01.

was watching other parts of the ceremony. I found it exceedingly

:58:02.:58:06.

difficult and had to sit on the floor for a while.

:58:07.:58:29.

It is 11.28 am so we hope the Commons will have said their

:58:30.:58:40.

prayers. Here is this magnificent procession, passing through the

:58:41.:58:48.

world gallery. -- the Royal Gallery. It does look very mid-evil. --

:58:49.:58:59.

medieval. It is a moment in which The Queen herself, when she was

:59:00.:59:03.

preparing to be crowned, spent a lot of time ActiveSync for the fact that

:59:04.:59:09.

she -- she would spent a lot of time practising. This reveals how far

:59:10.:59:23.

back our monarchy goes. Let's enjoy it as it passes by.

:59:24.:59:35.

The Sword of State reaches the Princess chamber. We have never seen

:59:36.:59:54.

this before. -- the Prince's Chamber. We have only got three

:59:55.:00:03.

pages. One seems to have dropped out already. They don't faint on parade,

:00:04.:00:12.

but something happened. And in the House of Lords, everyone rises.

:00:13.:00:23.

Kate, she may not be using the stairs, but this Queen is wearing

:00:24.:00:27.

the crown. Victoria couldn't even get up the

:00:28.:00:37.

stairs of St Paul's during her Diamond Jubilee. She stayed in her

:00:38.:00:48.

carriage? Yes. Lords, be seated. She has surpassed Victoria as the

:00:49.:00:52.

longest monarchy and she is doing her job brilliantly. I think she has

:00:53.:01:01.

given the Lord Great Chamberlain did not -- the nod. He raises his wand.

:01:02.:01:10.

Is he on time, Black Rod? Back Rod is a good friend of mine and he

:01:11.:01:13.

works hard to get everything right here. Even with his eyesight, which

:01:14.:01:19.

is very acute, he couldn't see the wand from that distance so there are

:01:20.:01:24.

lights that go on that indicate it's time to set off. A bit of new

:01:25.:01:28.

technology? Absolutely, cutting edge. Right, this is him going

:01:29.:01:34.

through the Members lobby and you can see Keith Vaz, what is a prize,

:01:35.:01:38.

lined up to get a good place in the House of Lords. And he approaches

:01:39.:01:43.

the door of the House of Commons. Perfect. Open the doors! Who says

:01:44.:01:59.

that? That will be the Sergeant. You did that last year? Yes. That is

:02:00.:02:03.

your successor. Mr Speaker, the Queen commands that

:02:04.:02:25.

this honourable House to attend Her Majesty immediately in the house of

:02:26.:02:37.

Peers. Hands off the BBC! We will pass absolutely no comment on that

:02:38.:02:42.

in the studio! Lord Skinner, not Lord Skinner but one day, Dennis

:02:43.:02:47.

Skinner. Affectionately known as the beast of Bolsover. 84 years old,

:02:48.:02:52.

with his contributory role to the State Opening. He now ceremoniously

:02:53.:02:59.

since it out. John Bercow, the Speaker, the clerk of the House of

:03:00.:03:02.

Commons, and the Prime Minister alongside Jeremy Corbyn. In his

:03:03.:03:19.

first State Opening, Kamal El-Hajji. What were you hoping for in your

:03:20.:03:23.

first State Opening? Just that I did not trip over. The hind him his

:03:24.:03:28.

secretary and the chaplain of the House of Commons. -- behind him.

:03:29.:03:35.

When you get to the Lords the mace is taken from you. They walk

:03:36.:03:39.

backwards to collect it from your shoulder because it can't be in the

:03:40.:03:42.

House of Lords at the same time as the Queen. We all wonder what the

:03:43.:03:46.

Prime Minister and Jeremy Corbyn will say but they are not saying

:03:47.:03:49.

much. The Prime Minister has broken the ice. He's doing the talking. I

:03:50.:03:58.

wouldn't be surprised if Jeremy Corbyn found it a bit surprisingly

:03:59.:04:01.

find himself at the State Opening of Parliament in this whole,

:04:02.:04:07.

extraordinary royal engagement. Here they come. Being quite rabble like.

:04:08.:04:16.

Yes. Do people still dress up, MPs, for the day? Some do, some wear

:04:17.:04:22.

hats. That is normally where you see the good jewellery. It is a party

:04:23.:04:31.

occasion for both Houses. The House of Lords has been reconfigured for

:04:32.:04:35.

the day, the set out is not as it would be, and indeed in a few hours

:04:36.:04:39.

afterwards, some of the benches will be moved and taken out, so we can

:04:40.:04:44.

pack in as many people as we can. I thought actually that the bar was

:04:45.:04:48.

moved back, there is actually less rooms for the Commons and more for

:04:49.:04:52.

the peers. That is one of the difficult things you have just seen,

:04:53.:04:56.

all four of the key officials should arrive in line. There is not room to

:04:57.:05:01.

do that through the doorway, so there is jockeying. Black Rod on the

:05:02.:05:06.

left, the Speaker John Bercow, Serjeant at Arms Kamal El-Hajji, and

:05:07.:05:11.

they take their positions at the front and the party leaders and the

:05:12.:05:16.

Shadow Cabinet Members and other MPs are behind them. Earl Marshal now

:05:17.:05:24.

looking not at the Queen but towards what is called the bar of the house

:05:25.:05:29.

to see if he can get as many MPs in as possible. He signals the Lord

:05:30.:05:33.

Chancellor to deliver the speech. You can see the galleries packed on

:05:34.:05:55.

either side, the place is packed. My Lords and Members

:05:56.:06:06.

of the House of Commons, My Government will use the

:06:07.:06:13.

opportunity of a strengthening economy to deliver security for

:06:14.:06:18.

working people, to increase life chances for the most disadvantaged,

:06:19.:06:23.

and to strengthen national defences. My ministers will continue to bring

:06:24.:06:28.

the public finances under control, so that Britain lives within its

:06:29.:06:34.

means, and a move to a higher wage and lower welfare economy where work

:06:35.:06:40.

is rewarded. To support the economic recovery and create jobs and more

:06:41.:06:46.

apprenticeships, legislation will be introduced to ensure Britain has the

:06:47.:06:49.

infrastructure that businesses need to grow. Measures will be brought

:06:50.:06:57.

forward to create the right for every household to access high-speed

:06:58.:07:04.

broadband. Legislation will be introduced to improve Britain's

:07:05.:07:07.

competitiveness and make the United Kingdom a world leader in the

:07:08.:07:13.

digital economy. My ministers will ensure the United Kingdom is at the

:07:14.:07:16.

forefront of technology. For new forms of transport, including

:07:17.:07:23.

autonomous and electric vehicles. To spread economic prosperity my

:07:24.:07:28.

Government will continue to support the development of a northern

:07:29.:07:34.

powerhouse. In England, further powers will be devolved to directly

:07:35.:07:40.

elected mayors, including powers governing local bus services.

:07:41.:07:46.

Legislation will also allow local authorities to retain business

:07:47.:07:51.

rates, having them more freedom to invest in local communities. My

:07:52.:07:57.

Government will support aspiration and promote homeownership through

:07:58.:08:02.

its commitment to build 1 million new homes. Following last week 's

:08:03.:08:10.

anti-corruption summit in London, legislation will be introduced to

:08:11.:08:14.

tackle corruption, money-laundering, and tax evasion. My Government will

:08:15.:08:22.

continue work to deliver NHS services over seven days of the week

:08:23.:08:27.

in England. Legislation will be introduced to ensure that overseas

:08:28.:08:31.

visitors pay for the health treatment that they receive at

:08:32.:08:36.

public expense. New legislation will be introduced to tackle some of the

:08:37.:08:42.

deepest social problems in society. And improve life chances. A bill

:08:43.:08:49.

will be introduced to ensure that children can be adopted by new

:08:50.:08:53.

families without delay. Improve the standard of social work, and

:08:54.:08:58.

opportunities for young people in care in England. To tackle poverty

:08:59.:09:05.

and the causes of deprivation, including family instability,

:09:06.:09:11.

addiction and debt my Government will introduce new indicators for

:09:12.:09:16.

measuring life chances. Legislation will be introduced to establish a

:09:17.:09:23.

soft drinks industry levy to help tackle childhood obesity. Measures

:09:24.:09:29.

will be introduced to help the lowest income families to save

:09:30.:09:39.

through a new Help to Save scheme and to create a lifetime ISA to help

:09:40.:09:47.

young people to save in the long-term. My Government will

:09:48.:09:50.

continue to reform public services so they help the hardest to reach. A

:09:51.:09:55.

bill will be brought forward to lay the foundations for educational

:09:56.:09:58.

excellence in all schools, giving every child the best start in life.

:09:59.:10:04.

There will also be a fairer balance between schools through the national

:10:05.:10:12.

funding formula. To ensure that more people have the opportunity to

:10:13.:10:15.

further their education, legislation will be introduced to support the

:10:16.:10:22.

establishment of new universities and to promote choice and

:10:23.:10:24.

competition across the higher education sector. My Government will

:10:25.:10:33.

legislate to reform prisons and courts, to give individuals a second

:10:34.:10:39.

chance. Prison governors will be given unprecedented freedom, and

:10:40.:10:44.

they will be able to ensure prisoners receive better education.

:10:45.:10:53.

Old and inefficient prisons will be closed and new institutions built,

:10:54.:10:56.

where prisoners can be put to more effective work. Action will also be

:10:57.:11:04.

taken to ensure a better mental health provision for individuals in

:11:05.:11:10.

the criminal justice system. My Government will continue to work to

:11:11.:11:12.

bring communities together and strengthen society. Legislation will

:11:13.:11:20.

be introduced to prevent radicalisation, tackle extremism in

:11:21.:11:24.

all its forms, and promote community integration. National citizens

:11:25.:11:33.

service will be placed on a permanent statutory footing. My

:11:34.:11:41.

Government will continue to safeguard national security, my

:11:42.:11:43.

ministers will invest in Britain's Armed Forces, honouring the military

:11:44.:11:50.

covenant, and meeting the Nato commitment to spend 2% of national

:11:51.:11:56.

income on defence. They will also act to secure the long-term future

:11:57.:12:03.

of Britain's nuclear deterrent. My Government will continue to play a

:12:04.:12:09.

leading role in world affairs, using its global presence to tackle

:12:10.:12:12.

climate change and address major international security, economic and

:12:13.:12:21.

humanitarian challenges. My Government will continue to work to

:12:22.:12:27.

resolve the conflict in Ukraine. It will play a leading role in the

:12:28.:12:34.

campaign against Daesh and to support international efforts to

:12:35.:12:36.

bring peace to Syria through a lasting political settlement.

:12:37.:12:43.

Britain's commitment on international development spending

:12:44.:12:45.

will also be honoured. Helping to deliver global stability, support

:12:46.:12:52.

the sustainable development goals, and prevent new threats to national

:12:53.:13:00.

security. Prince Philip and I look forward to welcoming his Excellency

:13:01.:13:03.

the President of Colombia on a state visit in November. My Government

:13:04.:13:11.

will continue with legislation to modernise the law governing the use

:13:12.:13:19.

of oversight of investigatory Powers by law enforcement, security, and

:13:20.:13:25.

intelligence agencies. Legislation will strengthen the capability and

:13:26.:13:28.

accountability of the police service in England and Wales. My Government

:13:29.:13:35.

will hold a referendum on membership of the European Union. Proposals

:13:36.:13:41.

will be brought forward for a British Bill of Rights. My ministers

:13:42.:13:52.

will uphold this sovereignty of Parliament and the primacy of the

:13:53.:13:55.

House of Commons. My Government will continue to work in cooperation with

:13:56.:14:00.

the devolved administrations, to implement the extensive new powers

:14:01.:14:08.

in the Scotland Act and establish a strong and lasting devolution

:14:09.:14:13.

settlement in Wales. My Government will work in Northern Ireland to

:14:14.:14:16.

secure further progress in implementing the storm onto house

:14:17.:14:20.

and Fresh Start Agreements. -- storm Estimates for the public services

:14:21.:14:34.

will be laid before you. My Lords and Members of the House of Commons,

:14:35.:14:39.

other measures will be laid before you. I pray that the blessing of

:14:40.:14:43.

Almighty God may rest upon your counsels.

:14:44.:15:04.

The speech successfully delivered by the Queen, the Lord Chancellor has

:15:05.:15:12.

retrieved it. And three page boys come forward to collect the

:15:13.:15:19.

Queen'strain and it's a heavy job for one of them because he is taking

:15:20.:15:21.

the job for one that is missing. So, emerging through the Prince's

:15:22.:16:03.

chamber, the royal procession makes its way back. A lovely site here of

:16:04.:16:12.

the Prince's chamber, which we have not seen before. It is said that

:16:13.:16:19.

they will hand in their access before they leave, which is wise

:16:20.:16:26.

advice. Field Marshal Montgomery. He was a general till 2014. They had

:16:27.:16:39.

given up making field marshals because the pension was too high

:16:40.:16:43.

when they retired, but now they have changed it back again and they are

:16:44.:16:46.

honorary Field Marshall. So I don't think they get the pay, but they do

:16:47.:16:51.

get the bank. He was a former chief of defence staff. We talked about

:16:52.:16:55.

tourism earlier, and of course, tourism is a huge part of what makes

:16:56.:17:00.

this country but is. But it is possible on normal days for normal

:17:01.:17:05.

members of the public to walk exactly the route that The Queen is

:17:06.:17:08.

walking now, through the Royal Gallery, into the chamber itself. It

:17:09.:17:14.

is a wonderful opportunity to see that extraordinary building from the

:17:15.:17:18.

outside and at close quarters. The Royal Gallery is beautiful. Pictures

:17:19.:17:24.

of the battle of Waterloo and Trafalgar line the two sites, and

:17:25.:17:29.

when presidents of France come to address both houses, they are not

:17:30.:17:33.

very easy to keep discreet, because there are enormous pictures. There

:17:34.:17:37.

are wonderful. They were painted by an Irishman who fell out with the

:17:38.:17:41.

palace authorities because they refused to pay him openly.

:17:42.:17:44.

Apparently, in one of the murals, there is, in the rafters of the

:17:45.:17:49.

destroyed farmhouse at Waterloo, supposedly a copy of his unpaid bill

:17:50.:17:58.

that he put in. I can confirm that that uniform does cost thousands of

:17:59.:18:03.

pounds. Here is your replacement, 4+1. At this point, would you be

:18:04.:18:12.

thinking, this went to Kate? I think Kamal el Hajji will be thinking,

:18:13.:18:15.

thank goodness that is out of the way. It is a huge relief when Her

:18:16.:18:21.

Majesty is in the carriage and on her way back. She is not in the

:18:22.:18:25.

carriage yet, she is in the Robing Room. It has been very good timing.

:18:26.:18:34.

That is the fifth Mace we have seen today, carried by the primary

:18:35.:18:38.

Serjeant at Arms of the Palace of Westminster. And the 41st. Now, you

:18:39.:18:43.

laid the Mace on the table, that people don't stay, do they? So what

:18:44.:18:51.

does it mean? It is one of those things that only happens on State

:18:52.:18:56.

Opening day. The House is now suspended, and doorkeepers will keep

:18:57.:19:00.

guard of the Mace. But the House will not come back until later today

:19:01.:19:05.

to discuss the Queen's Speech. And before you discuss the Queen's

:19:06.:19:09.

Speech, there is the first and only reading of that outlaw Bill, which

:19:10.:19:16.

is essentially guarantees rights to persons arrested. It dates back to

:19:17.:19:23.

the 12th or 13th century, but it has a purpose? It does have a purpose.

:19:24.:19:32.

The Speaker will use the opportunity to address members and talk about

:19:33.:19:37.

the importance of security and rights of access and all those kinds

:19:38.:19:43.

of things. It is the one statement of the year where he will reinforce

:19:44.:19:48.

those messages. And the Commons will return to their business first

:19:49.:19:52.

before that of the sovereign. But it doesn't ever get beyond the first

:19:53.:19:56.

reading, so we made there for this cover what happens at the end. The

:19:57.:20:00.

Lords do it as well. They maintain their own independence. They have a

:20:01.:20:04.

bill on select vestry is. I only discovered what those were in March,

:20:05.:20:08.

and the parish church of Berwick-upon-Tweed. A select vestry

:20:09.:20:15.

is not a very posh vestry. A select vestry was a kind of parish council.

:20:16.:20:24.

It is not beautiful or nicely carpeted. Michael, if you rush back

:20:25.:20:32.

into the Lords, you would get a first reading of the select vestry.

:20:33.:20:36.

We are getting a lot of nice pictures in the Commons. You can see

:20:37.:20:40.

the Sergeant standing up, using the opportunity to talk to members. I

:20:41.:20:45.

didn't. I was out of their pretty sharpish! Having a quick Lucozade

:20:46.:20:49.

somewhere. It is a party date, really. The members may be going off

:20:50.:20:55.

to drink parties or get together with their friends, bringing guests

:20:56.:20:58.

in for lunch. It is a wonderful party atmosphere, the State Opening.

:20:59.:21:04.

But for MPs, is it important, Lawrence? It provides a framework.

:21:05.:21:10.

It is the one date in the calendar that every thing hinges off. It is

:21:11.:21:15.

also a good social occasion. Many members will bring their partners or

:21:16.:21:22.

family to Parliament for the day. The Serjeant at Arms used to be

:21:23.:21:27.

military people. What was your root? It was not military. I used to be

:21:28.:21:32.

the postmaster at Parliament. I was in charge of the postal service, and

:21:33.:21:36.

I kind of hung around and did lots of jobs. But it was after the

:21:37.:21:40.

anthrax attacks in the US through the mail that I got more into the

:21:41.:21:44.

security side of things. I was sent to Washington to find out how to

:21:45.:21:49.

find anthrax in the post. After developing a male security solution

:21:50.:21:52.

for Parliament, I was asked to manage the police contract. Then I

:21:53.:21:56.

became the assistant Serjeant at Arms and then in 2012, I became

:21:57.:22:00.

Serjeant at Arms. I worked my way up over 18 years.

:22:01.:22:02.

Well, we've been joined in the studio by our parliamentary

:22:03.:22:05.

Susan, what did you make of today's announcements?

:22:06.:22:12.

Isn't it extraordinary for a start that you have all the gold and

:22:13.:22:16.

glitter and the royalty, and as Lawrence was saying, the political

:22:17.:22:22.

year usually hinges off the Queen's Speech as well. But less so this

:22:23.:22:27.

year. If you can talk about that being a sideshow, in a way it is,

:22:28.:22:31.

because the political focus is so much on the referendum next month.

:22:32.:22:36.

If it is a vote to leave, a great deal of this will go by the board

:22:37.:22:41.

because a great deal of the government's attention will be taken

:22:42.:22:48.

up with making that happen. Some of us were surprised to have a Queen's

:22:49.:22:51.

Speech right now. We thought it might have come after the

:22:52.:22:59.

referendum. I think what David Cameron has wanted to do is

:23:00.:23:02.

something that will not fight on the horses, that can bring people

:23:03.:23:05.

together and is not too controversial. Nothing to see here?

:23:06.:23:14.

Exactly, business as usual. Do you think any of the bills are fairly

:23:15.:23:17.

uncontroversial. My heart always leaps when I see a bus services

:23:18.:23:24.

Bill(!). I will come back to you, Susan, because The Queen has taken

:23:25.:23:28.

off the Imperial State Crown and the Parliamentary rope, and she's

:23:29.:23:34.

quitting the two captains of the bodyguard, Lord Taylor of Holbeach

:23:35.:23:39.

and Lord Gardiner of Kimble. And they are political figures. The

:23:40.:23:46.

Chief Whip of the House of Lords is on the right and the deputy Chief

:23:47.:23:50.

Whip on the left in the foreground in military uniform. They are like

:23:51.:23:56.

you Lawrence, they were not at all military. Chris Grayling is making a

:23:57.:24:00.

joke about the speech. He is president of the Council. And she is

:24:01.:24:06.

now turning to Lady stole on the left. Chris Grayling looks a bit

:24:07.:24:18.

underdressed. And next to him, the Lord Chancellor. This is a quite

:24:19.:24:27.

different gathering to what we normally see, because The Queen

:24:28.:24:30.

normally comes out of the Robing Room and chats to a line of people

:24:31.:24:34.

and then goes down the staircase. Here, we have a milling around on

:24:35.:24:45.

this landing. There are busts on this landing of every Prime Minister

:24:46.:24:47.

who was a member of the House of Lords. The last one is Lord Hume,

:24:48.:25:08.

Alec Douglas Hume. I can't help noticing that the Lord Chancellor

:25:09.:25:12.

and the Lord President are both Brexiteers in the great debate that

:25:13.:25:15.

is going on. Luckily, we don't know the views of the Earl Marshal or the

:25:16.:25:24.

Lord Great Chamberlain. And she's going to disappear. She is waiting

:25:25.:25:29.

for the Duke of Edinburgh, who is chatting with the chiefs of defence

:25:30.:25:33.

staff, and they disappear into what we shall call the gold lift of

:25:34.:25:38.

state. It is actually quite heavily lined with brass, but mainly would,

:25:39.:25:44.

and the really reassuring thing is that it has a little Speaker and

:25:45.:25:48.

when you get stuck in the lift and Black Rod has run out of jokes to

:25:49.:25:51.

tell you on the way down, you can call for help. Susan, the actual

:25:52.:25:58.

bills. Why don't you pick out one or two? First David Cameron has written

:25:59.:26:05.

recently that he wants the next four years to be a period of social

:26:06.:26:08.

transformation in Britain, maybe getting back to his roots before he

:26:09.:26:14.

became Prime Minister, the hug a would-be thing, as it was

:26:15.:26:17.

characterised in the press. There are a number of social bills. There

:26:18.:26:23.

is the children and social worker Bill. That will make it easier for

:26:24.:26:26.

children to become formally adopted and taken on by a family. There is

:26:27.:26:31.

more regulation for social workers as well. There will be an education

:26:32.:26:36.

bill. That has run into trouble already. It was something David

:26:37.:26:40.

Cameron had mentioned at Prime Minister's Questions a few weeks

:26:41.:26:42.

ago. He said, I can give you one preview of the Queen's Speech, and

:26:43.:26:47.

it will be this bill to make all schools in England academies. That

:26:48.:26:53.

then run into trouble. It was one of the faster U-turns. It was. We may

:26:54.:26:58.

come to why that has happened and why they might want to avoid that.

:26:59.:27:07.

What about this Bill of Rights? So far, what we have her disability.

:27:08.:27:11.

There will be a great deal of consultation about it. It is

:27:12.:27:15.

something that many Conservatives want very much, for the British

:27:16.:27:21.

courts to be supreme in comparison with the European Court of Justice.

:27:22.:27:26.

Is something happening? Her Majesty The Queen, accompanied by the world

:27:27.:27:32.

you can Edinburgh, has got back into the diamond jubilee carriage. And it

:27:33.:27:39.

emerges into the rain, I'm afraid to say, of old palace yard. She is

:27:40.:27:51.

quite dry in that carriage and it is a condition, but I hope they turned

:27:52.:27:57.

up the heating inside. It is May, so of course, it is freezing cold and

:27:58.:27:59.

reining. Susan, you were talking about the

:28:00.:28:44.

Bill of Rights. Let's come on to what is perhaps the centrepiece of

:28:45.:28:47.

this. We may have to wait, because emerging straightaway is Prince

:28:48.:28:53.

Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall. He has been attending State Opening

:28:54.:28:58.

for the last three years, but there was a long period when he didn't?

:28:59.:29:05.

Yes, he began in 2013. In 2012 during the diamond jubilee, The

:29:06.:29:08.

Queen announced that she was going to hand more of the foreign travel

:29:09.:29:12.

over to Charles and more of the general duties as well. This is what

:29:13.:29:17.

we are seeing. The Queen is never going to abdicate, but we are going

:29:18.:29:24.

to see Charles take on more of the duties. In five or six years' time,

:29:25.:29:29.

he may be the one giving the speech. This is quite an arduous

:29:30.:29:34.

performance. It may be that Charles takes over in the future while The

:29:35.:29:40.

Queen is still our monarch. It is a fundamental role to the

:29:41.:29:43.

constitutional Head of State. It is a key role, and one of the last ones

:29:44.:29:47.

she will give up, because it undermines the most important thing

:29:48.:29:52.

to her -- it underlines the most important thing to her. She has set

:29:53.:29:56.

the bar for future monarch is very high.

:29:57.:30:01.

Tell us more about the politics, on the Bill of Rights, will it be

:30:02.:30:08.

tricky? It can't be tricky at the moment because there is so little

:30:09.:30:13.

detail. In the speech, in the background to the speech we have

:30:14.:30:16.

heard from the Government they have said that it will be up for

:30:17.:30:20.

discussion and there will be plenty of discussions. The idea clearly is

:30:21.:30:23.

to bring in as many people to heal some of those wounds that the

:30:24.:30:29.

referendum campaign may have created. What I think is the

:30:30.:30:33.

centrepiece is prison reform, Michael Gove is very committed, the

:30:34.:30:38.

Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, to prison reform, a very

:30:39.:30:44.

different Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor to Chris Grayling. What

:30:45.:30:48.

does he want to do? At the stroke of 12, tell us at the stroke of 12. I

:30:49.:31:01.

will do it in time with the bongs. He will be giving prisons more

:31:02.:31:05.

autonomy like with academy schools. It's all very well giving autonomy

:31:06.:31:09.

but jails are very overcrowded and you have to look at sentencing and

:31:10.:31:10.

funding as well. We will pause there for a Royal

:31:11.:31:33.

Salute, for Prince Charles, he only gets half of the national anthem. As

:31:34.:31:39.

the Crown departs. You are a Conservative peer, Michael, you are

:31:40.:31:42.

at civil war in the Conservative Party at the moment. You have a long

:31:43.:31:46.

political memory and mine is reasonable, wasn't like this in the

:31:47.:31:52.

1975 referendum, there are two Conservative parties and if you

:31:53.:31:55.

don't come together on what David Cameron wants to do presently than

:31:56.:31:58.

it is hard to see you coming together after the referendum? I

:31:59.:32:03.

would call it a debate rather than a civil war but I understand why you

:32:04.:32:06.

are turning it like that. One Members going back to 1975, the

:32:07.:32:13.

Labour Party itself was torn apart so there is nothing new in politics.

:32:14.:32:20.

There will undoubtedly be a very important period after the

:32:21.:32:22.

referendum where everybody reassesses where we are. How long...

:32:23.:32:30.

Another month, five or six weeks, it is not pleasant within the

:32:31.:32:33.

Conservative Party? The opposition is from within their own side.

:32:34.:32:38.

Wouldn't you say, the role of the actual legal opposition was almost

:32:39.:32:43.

left out while the Conservatives battle on. Indeed. I think we have

:32:44.:32:47.

seen that in the whole of this last Parliamentary year. It has looked a

:32:48.:32:53.

lot like the opposition came from the Lords, 60 defeats in the House

:32:54.:32:58.

of Lords, but in fact the Government doesn't have to pay much attention

:32:59.:33:00.

to those House of Lords defeats because even with the small majority

:33:01.:33:06.

you should be able to overturn them. Some Lords amendments go through in

:33:07.:33:09.

the end and they get a few victories. They do. There is

:33:10.:33:14.

compromise. Where there is a sticking point and the Government

:33:15.:33:18.

didn't want to compromise our ones where Conservative MPs have also

:33:19.:33:21.

have their doubts and wanted to go along with what the Lords have said.

:33:22.:33:30.

61 defeats. Around 60. 61 defeats in the House of Lords. I could not

:33:31.:33:35.

possibly completely view on detail this morning! Two defeats in the

:33:36.:33:38.

House of Commons which was a turn-up for the books three actually. We are

:33:39.:33:47.

even now! That is unusual for a majority Government. It is and other

:33:48.:33:51.

defeats were staved off for example on the academies issue, the child

:33:52.:33:56.

migrants issue. That's because with a tiny majority you are limited in

:33:57.:34:03.

what you can do. Now the Crown, just back into the carriage. Placed there

:34:04.:34:05.

by the crown jeweller. The final act. The Cap of

:34:06.:34:23.

Maintenance and the Sword of State make their way back to Buckingham

:34:24.:34:27.

Palace. In the Queen Alexandra State coach. The coach men are on board. A

:34:28.:34:44.

tap of the reins and they will be on their way. The important memory that

:34:45.:34:49.

carriages do not pay the congestion charge in central London. Because

:34:50.:34:56.

they are, in that sense, very fuel-efficient. Nonpolluting. I will

:34:57.:35:04.

put it to you because it is not my opinion, Lord Dodds, but you are

:35:05.:35:11.

skating over this internal battle in the Conservative Party. You wouldn't

:35:12.:35:14.

expect me to make it worse than it is. Go on! This is an historic vote

:35:15.:35:19.

and we have never had a vote which is as meaningful as this referendum

:35:20.:35:25.

vote. It's not surprising that people take it very seriously with

:35:26.:35:29.

great passion and you would expect a bit of argy-bargy. I would not say

:35:30.:35:33.

it has gone too far but it is doing damage to the Conservative Party and

:35:34.:35:40.

there will be a difficult and hugely important job of reconciliation

:35:41.:35:43.

afterwards to put the party back together again. One of the advantage

:35:44.:35:47.

of it being in June is that it gives us time before the next election and

:35:48.:35:52.

in party political terms that is important. Lovely passing shot of

:35:53.:35:58.

the Commons. Lawrence, you are above party, but you have seen some of

:35:59.:36:03.

these battles in the first year of the Conservative Government? You

:36:04.:36:05.

could see which way the wind was blowing. What was it like in the

:36:06.:36:10.

Commons at times? Very difficult. Passions run high. You know, people

:36:11.:36:18.

have very deep-seated opinions about certain things and believe they are

:36:19.:36:22.

right. But I think it's important for officials and particularly

:36:23.:36:25.

people like the Serjeant at Arms and the Speaker, to try to rise above

:36:26.:36:30.

that and be impartial and have friends and colleagues on all sides

:36:31.:36:36.

of the Chamber, and most importantly to be seen to be impartial and that

:36:37.:36:40.

is what I tried to do and it can be a tight rope because people always

:36:41.:36:44.

point the finger and say, you are giving privileges to one side or

:36:45.:36:48.

another. You are judged at the end of the day on your actions rather

:36:49.:36:52.

than on what you say, and it's really important that you tried to

:36:53.:36:58.

keep within the framework of the rules, but you know, also allow the

:36:59.:37:04.

House to express itself. A lovely note of unity. Another State

:37:05.:37:08.

Opening, will we still see them in a hundred years best mark I think we

:37:09.:37:12.

will and we will continue to see them and some of the pomp and

:37:13.:37:16.

circumstance may be reduced in 50 or a hundred years. But they have

:37:17.:37:25.

brought bits back. We have blinged it up as the Duke of Norfolk was

:37:26.:37:28.

saying. We are waiting for the Michael Dobbs lecture on that.

:37:29.:37:32.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.

:37:33.:37:33.

I think we have successfully covered and enjoyed the pomp

:37:34.:37:37.

and the politics, so my grateful thanks to historian Kate Williams,

:37:38.:37:40.

the former Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons,

:37:41.:37:42.

Lawrence Ward, and the thriller writer Lord Dobbs.

:37:43.:37:50.

Thank you too to our parliamentary correspondent Susan Hulme and thank

:37:51.:37:54.

The Queen and other members of the royal family are heading back

:37:55.:38:03.

to the Palace, the Commons have returned to their Place and as far

:38:04.:38:07.

as I can see from the pictures on the screen, the peers are trying

:38:08.:38:12.

as fast as they can to get out of the House of Lords, where they've

:38:13.:38:16.

Probably going towards their refreshments.

:38:17.:38:21.

Join us at 2.30 this afternoon live on BBC Parliament for our coverage

:38:22.:38:25.

of the Queen's Speech debate in the House of Commons,

:38:26.:38:28.

where the Prime Minister will commend the propositions put

:38:29.:38:32.

forward in the Speech this morning and we'll hear what the Leader

:38:33.:38:35.

of the Opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, has to say in his first speech

:38:36.:38:38.

It will be Jeremy Corbyn's first outing as his role as Leader of the

:38:39.:38:51.

Opposition. Join us on BBC Parliament for that live debate at

:38:52.:38:54.

2:30pm. Thank you for watching this morning. I hope you have all enjoyed

:38:55.:39:00.

it. Every good afternoon to you. -- a very good afternoon.

:39:01.:39:03.

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