November 17-18, 1999 – The Wonderfully Arcane Rituals of State Opening of Parliament

It is spitting snow this morning as I walk along the Edinburgh streets in search of caffeine. I find an Internet café and sip a cup of coffee while I check my email.

Back at the hotel, I watch a bit of the State Opening of Parliament on TV. Wistfully, I think that, had I been in London today, I could have seen the Queen escorted by the Household Cavalry ride through the London streets from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Palace. I watch as the Queen Alexandra State Coach exits the gate at Buckingham Palace. It carries take the Royal Regalia and the ceremonial Crown of State from St. James Street down the Mall to the Houses of Parliament. The Cinderella-style coach is the one that Lady Diana Spencer rode in to St. Paul’s Cathedral for her wedding.

It is the last parliamentary session of this century and the first State Opening without the full complement of hereditary peers. The Yeomen of the Guard bring the Imperial State Crown, containing more than 3,000 diamonds, into the Palace. The Queen, when she arrives, will proceed first to the Robing Room to put on the glittering crown and the ermine-edged Robe of State. Then she will mount the golden dais in the House of Lords and read the speech written for her by her prime minister.

As I watch the ceremony unfold, I am thinking, “Soon, the Queen will be standing just below the very spot where I sat last week!”

Dean and I have meetings this morning at the Scottish Accounts Commission (SAC) and the Council of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA). We leave our luggage at Waverley station and then eat lunch at an organic café that Dean and Barbara found over the weekend. When we arrive for our first appointment at SAC on George Street, Alex Taylor, who has not had lunch yet, takes us to a nearby pub. He eats and we join him for a pint, just to be friendly of course. He is extremely forthcoming and I enjoy talking with him. Our next appointment is with a Jon Harris—no relation―at COSLA. Everyone keeps saying how the Scottish Best Value system is so different than in England (the implication being that it is better). But I cannot seeing that it differs in any substantive way.

Haymarket station is right next door to COSLA and we catch a train for the four-minute ride to Waverley station, pick up our luggage, and board another train for the long journey back to Birmingham.

I love Scotland—I am surprised by how much I like it—maybe even more than Ireland. Its wild landscape, unique skies, and warm people will always be part of my heart.

On the train ride home, I sit next to two American women who talk loudly to each other while playing cards. They proclaim that East Coast Americans are rude and not as friendly as Midwesterners, like themselves (they are from Chicago). They have a point, but it is belied by their very loud and obnoxious pronunciation of it.

A man wanders up and down the aisle in an alcoholic haze. He stops and looks over the blonde women’s shoulders offering his advice on their card game. They pointedly ignore him. Where is their Midwestern friendliness now?

The continual announcements from John “buffet-car-in-the-rear-of-the-train” become increasingly annoying. Even his colleagues seem to think so as one cuts him off mid-sentence to welcome new passengers at Preston.

I make my way back to Birmingham. The next morning, Caroline cheekily asks me if I looked under any kilts! They had a guest in my room for two nights while I was gone, so I saved £60. That will pay for one night in London. I am keeping my things packed over the weekend while I am in London in case Tony gets any other lodgers.

• In today’s news: Speaking at the first state opening of Parliament since the majority of hereditary peers was abolished, the Queen said Labour’s third legislative programme would seek to reform and modernize the UK.

She is talking about the UK’s performance measurement system that I am studying!

My Lords and Members of the House of Commons. This is my Government’s third programme. It aims to build on my Government’s programme of reform as they seek to modernize the country and its institutions to meet the challenges of the new Millennium. My Government’s aim is to promote fairness and enterprise, providing people with real opportunities to liberate their potential. They will focus on continued modernization of our economy, the promotion of enterprise, reform of the welfare system, protection of the public, and the development of a safe transport system. A bill will be brought forward to reform local government to make it more innovative and accountable. My government will introduce a Bill on Freedom of Information. It will give everyone the right of access to information held across the public sector for the first time. (underlining for emphasis is mine!)

Excerpt from the Queen’s speech, State Opening of Parliament, November 17, 1999

If Tony Blair wrote this speech, he is a terrible writer—passive voice, repetitive, boring words. He seems to be a better orator than speechwriter.

State Opening of Parliament – What a Performance!

The kidnapping of a government whip during a parliamentary ceremony headed by the Queen may sound like the plot of a Hollywood thriller. But due to arcane ritual behind the state opening of Parliament, the temporary detention of the vice chamberlain remains an integral part of the annual event.

Since Guy Fawkes’ attempt to blow up Parliament in 1605, the day has begun with a search of the building’s cellars. By the time the Queen’s procession travels the short distance from Buckingham Palace to Westminster, at around 11:00 GMT, security checks will be complete. The Queen’s crown makes the journey separately from the monarch—the two are reunited inside the House of Lords.

As the Queen arrives, the vice chamberlain’s kidnapping ordeal begins. This year, Graham Allen is the victim of palace officials who hold him to guarantee safe return of Her Majesty. Shortly after, the members of the House of Commons are told they are requested to attend the Lords, where the Queen’s speech is read.

Once they have traipsed from one side to the other of Parliament, the pomp and ceremony begins in earnest. Traditions surrounding the Queen’s Speech can be traced back to 1536, but its modern form dates from the opening of the present Palace of Westminster in 1852. Last year the government gave the process a tweak, scrapping some of the more elaborate and time-consuming aspects of the performance. But the bulk of the ceremony escaped the modernisers. At their own insistence, the great officers of state—the Lord Great Chamberlain and the Earl Marshall—continue to walk backwards to show respect to the Queen as they lead her procession into the House of Lords.

MPs are still summonsed to the Lords by the Gentlemen Usher of the Black Rod who gives the Commons’ door three whacks with a black ebony stick to request their presence. And year after year, Black Rod then has to endure the indignity of having the door slammed in his face before the honourable members relent and decide they will attend the ceremony after all.

A few rebels have in the past remained in the Commons throughout, but the House of Lords is always full for the event, although this year 666 fewer hereditary peers will turn up as they lost their right to do so in a bill first announced in last year’s Queen’s speech.

The kidnapped vice chamberlain misses it all, as he is only freed after the monarch has made a safe return to Buckingham Palace.

BBC News Online, accessed November 18, 1999