No crown or carriage in age of Covid
THE State Opening of Parliament yesterday was a ‘reduced ceremonial’ occasion due to the fact Covid restrictions are still in place.
Attendance in the House of Lords was vastly reduced and everyone was required to wear face masks apart from the Queen.
Other changes to the tradition that is more than 500 years old were more familiar.
The Imperial State Crown was driven to Parliament ahead of Her Majesty’s arrival and placed on a table in the Lords ready for her keynote speech outlining the Government’s plans for the year.
The centrepiece of the Crown Jewels, which boasts more than 3,000 gemstones and weighs more than one kilo, is now too heavy for the Queen. She last wore it in 2016.
Neither was the Queen dressed in her ceremonial robes. Instead she chose what Buckingham Palace call day dress – yesterday that was an outfit by her dressmaker Angela Kelly and a pair of aquamarine Boucheron brooches given to her by her parents on her 18th birthday.
In addition, the Queen was driven from Buckingham Palace in a low-key Range Rover, rather than the State Bentley or, as is strictly traditional, the State Coach.
For more than 60 of her 67 State Openings, the Duke of Edinburgh was at the Queen’s side. He last accompanied her in 2016, after which Prince Charles took up his father’s seat in the consort’s throne.
Yesterday, however, her son was obliged to observe social distancing and he and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, were given chairs of State to the Queen’s left. It means the consort’s throne will be reinstated in post-Covid times.
It was the fourth time that Charles has been at his mother’s side for the State Opening. He also attended in June 2017, October 2019 and December 2019.
The heir to the throne first stepped in for his father in four years ago, after Philip fell ill with an infection two months before he retired from public duties. There was no State Opening in 2018 or last year.
It is the first time the Queen had conducted an engagement outside of Windsor Castle since her husband died aged 99 on April 9, and only the second time she has been at the palace since she retreated to Windsor in March last year for lockdown.
She came to London briefly last November to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey. The duke’s funeral took place on April 17 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.
Inside the Palace of Westminster yesterday, the Prince of Wales kept his mask on and held his mother’s hand as they processed through the Royal Gallery.
There were only 34 seated guests – 17 peers and 17 MPs socially distanced and wearing masks – who had been selected through a ballot.
As the Queen walked towards the principal throne in the Lords Chamber, Charles kept hold of her hand as she made her way up the steps.
The speech was placed on a table next to the monarch’s throne. Before the pandemic the Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland would have handed it to her.
After the speech, the Queen was seen chatting with the Marquess of Cholmondeley and other participants. At one point she animatedly gestured, holding up her whitegloved hands, before smiling broadly and saying goodbye.
‘Retreated to Windsor’