What happens on the day of the Queen's Speech and State Opening of Parliament?
Fri. 13 Dec 2019
The State Opening of Parliament, with the Queen's Speech at its centre, is the largest and most elaborate ceremonial occasion in the regular parliamentary calendar. The ceremony is rich in history and constitutional symbolism, and is also of immediate political interest and importance.
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Last updated: 3 May 2022
Guides / What are the Queen's Speech and the State Opening of Parliament?
The Queen's Speech is the vehicle through which the Government sets out its legislative programme for a new Session of Parliament. The Speech is the central element in the State Opening of Parliament, the key constitutional and ceremonial occasion at the start of a new Session.
The date for the Queen's Speech and State Opening of Parliament is announced by the Government, usually several weeks in advance.
On the appointed day, the Queen arrives at Sovereign’s Entrance, at the House of Lords end of the Palace of Westminster, under Victoria Tower. She proceeds via the Robing Room and Royal Gallery to take her place on the Throne in the House of Lords. She is accompanied by Prince Charles (taking the former place of Prince Philip). Black Rod is then despatched to summon the House of Commons to come to the House of Lords to attend Her Majesty.
Who is Black Rod?
The Royal official in the House of Lords with responsibilities for order, the residual Royal estate and ceremonial occasions.
When Black Rod arrives at the House of Commons Chamber, the door is shut in front of her, obliging her to strike it three times with her staff to gain entry. By tradition, this is a reminder of the Commons’ independence from the Crown, dating back to the Civil War. Once admitted, Black Rod passes on the Queen’s request that the Commons attend her in the House of Lords. MPs – led by the Speaker, who is followed by the Prime Minister – then walk from the House of Commons across Central Lobby and into the House of Lords. The Clerk of the House of Commons accompanies them.
When MPs have arrived in the House of Lords Chamber, the Lord Chancellor presents the Queen with the text of the Speech. In front of the Members of both Houses, the Queen then delivers the Speech. When the Speech is finished, the Queen withdraws from the Lords Chamber, MPs return to the House of Commons, and both Houses can get down to the first real business of the new parliamentary Session.
Normally, State Opening is one of the grandest ceremonies in the national calendar, with the Queen wearing the Robe of State and arriving in a horse-drawn carriage. She would also traditionally wear the Imperial State Crown.
However, there are a number of ways in which State Opening has involved, and might again involve, a lesser level of ceremony than normal:
The Queen might wear ordinary clothes rather than the Robe of State. She was ‘dressed-down’ in this way for the State Openings of:
November 1939, which took place during World War II;
March 1974, June 2017 and December 2019, when the State Opening followed early General Elections which had left insufficient time to prepare a full-scale ceremony; and
May 2021, when the entire occasion had to be scaled-down owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Queen might not wear the Imperial State Crown. She would not do so if she were 'dressing-down'; but, even if she is wearing the Robe of State, it might be that she does not wear the Crown, owing to its physical weight. The Queen wore the Robe of State without the Imperial State Crown for the State Opening of October 2019, for example; she last wore the Crown for the State Opening of May 2016. The Crown is also not worn if the monarch has not yet been crowned, as occurred at the State Openings of 1936 and 1952. When the Queen does not wear the Imperial State Crown, it is carried ahead of her.
The Queen might travel to Parliament by car, rather than in a horse-drawn carriage. This was the arrangement for the State Openings of March 1974, June 2017, December 2019 and May 2021.
The Queen has missed State Opening twice during her reign – in 1959 and 1963, when she was pregnant.
On those occasions, the Speech was read by the Lord Chancellor.
Who are the Lords Commissioners?
A group of Peers – usually five – who act in Parliament on behalf of the Queen when she is not present in person.
When the Queen is not present in person, her tasks in the State Opening ceremony apart from the reading of the Speech are carried out through the Lords Commissioners.
Guides / What is the Queen's Speech debate and how does it take place?
There is a Queen's Speech debate in both Houses, across several days. It provides an occasion for a wide-ranging and constitutionally significant debate on the Government's policies and programme.
After the Queen's Speech, the main business in both Houses is the start of the debate on the Speech. In both Houses, the Queen's Speech debate normally starts on the day of the Speech.
However, before the House of Commons gets down to any business, the Speaker first makes a statement about the "duties and responsibilities of honourable Members" of the House. He may well refer to the Code of Conduct for MPs.
In both Houses, before the start of the debate on the Queen's Speech, the House gives a symbolic First Reading to a Bill that was not included in the Queen's Speech. This is a formality: the Bill is not published or debated; and although it is ordered to be read a second time, no date is appointed for Second Reading. The process is typically over in a second or two. However, the First Reading is undertaken in order to make the constitutional point that the House is able to consider business of its own choice, not just business that was outlined in the Queen’s Speech. (The first known occasion when the House of Commons gave a Bill a First Reading before considering any other business in a Session was in 1558.)
In each House, the Bill which is given a symbolic First Reading is always the same:
In the House of Commons, the Bill given a symbolic First Reading is the Outlawries Bill. A Bill with this title was first presented in 1727. Since then, it has been generally accepted that it should not progress as a normal Bill. The Outlawries Bill historically provided for the more ‘effectual preventing’ of ‘clandestine outlawries’ – that is, the declaration of someone as an outlaw without due process.
In the House of Lords, the Bill given a symbolic First Reading is the Select Vestries Bill. This is a remnant of the regular debates that took place in the 18th and 19th centuries on the reform of select vestries. Vestries were a form of local government based on church parish boundaries which had the church vestry as their meeting place. The ‘select’ element refers to the fact that property restrictions limited those entitled to vote in these vestries to only a few ‘select’ people. Reform of select vestries was thus an important aspect of the debate about extending the franchise and reducing the power of the Crown and executive. As the House of Lords historically comprised powerful landowners and Bishops, the Select Vestries Bill came to symbolise the need for Members to act in the national interest rather than self-interest.
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