A State Opening of Parliament took place on 11 May 2021. [2] Queen Elizabeth II opened the second session of the 58th Parliament with the traditional Queen's Speech. The event was significant as it involved many restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. [3]
The parliament was elected at the 2019 general election. The Opening of Parliament was the Queen's first major royal duty since the death of her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, which occurred one month before. [4] This would be the last state opening the Queen would personally attend prior to her death in September 2022, as the then-Prince of Wales and Duke of Cambridge, acting as Counsellors of State, stood in for the ailing Monarch for the last State Opening of Parliament of her reign in May 2022.
The ceremony was different from usual protocol, being the first since the COVID-19 pandemic began. [5] Only 74 people were allowed in the House of Lords when the speech was read, with a further 34 MPs and peers sitting in the Royal Gallery. [6] The Queen travelled from Buckingham Palace in a Range Rover instead of the traditional carriage. [7]
There were expected to be between 25 and 30 bills mentioned in the speech, [8] including bills related to rent reform and employment. [9] BBC News reported that the speech would include measures on adult social care, Northern Ireland veterans, asylum reform, the English planning system, fixed-term parliaments, and building safety regulations. [10]
The following new bills were announced in the speech: [11]
Further legislation will also introduce the government's "New Plan for Immigration" and deal with legacy issues relating to Northern Ireland. [11]
The Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Bill would repeal the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, restoring the power of the monarch to dissolve Parliament and call a new election at the request of the prime minister, [12] while the Electoral Integrity Bill would introduce mandatory photo identification for voters at general elections, [13] as well as granting British nationals who have lived overseas for over 15 years the right to vote. [14] The Judicial Review Bill would allow courts to issue suspended quashing orders, giving the government time to correct errors before a quashing order comes into effect, and abolish the right to judicial review of Upper Tribunal decisions at the High Court of Justice. [15]
The Online Safety Bill would create a new statutory duty of care of online platforms towards their users, obliging them to remove both illegal and "legal but harmful" content, and empower Ofcom to block access to particular websites. In addition, the bill would prohibit social media networks from removing certain forms of user-submitted political content or discriminating against particular political viewpoints. [16]
The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill would impose requirements for universities and students' unions to protect freedom of speech, allowing speakers to seek compensation for no-platforming, empowering the Office for Students to levy fines on infringing institutions, and creating a new ombudsman charged with monitoring cases of no-platforming and academic dismissals. [17]
In addition, the following bills were carried over from the 2019–21 legislative session: [18]
The Queen travelled from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster. [19] She was joined by her son Prince Charles and his wife Camilla. [20] The MP Marcus Jones was taken in the opposite direction as 'hostage' for the duration. [21]
The consort's throne was absent from the House of Lords during the event due to COVID-19 restrictions: though the Queen's consort Prince Philip had died on 9 April 2021, the throne was expected to be returned and occupied by Prince Charles at future State Openings. [22]
Members of Parliament debated the speech in the House of Commons afterwards. [23] A debate also took place in the House of Lords. Lord Lebedev made his maiden speech. [24]
On 19 May the motion on the address was passed by a vote of 367–264, with the Democratic Unionist Party supporting the government. [25]
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest institutions in the world, its origins lie in the early 11th century and the emergence of bicameralism in the 13th century.
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster in London. Parliament possesses legislative supremacy and thereby holds ultimate power over all other political bodies in the United Kingdom and the Overseas Territories. While Parliament is bicameral, it has three parts: the sovereign (King-in-Parliament), the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. In theory, power is officially vested in the King-in-Parliament. However, the Crown normally acts on the advice of the prime minister, and the powers of the House of Lords are limited to only delaying legislation; thus power is de facto vested in the House of Commons.
The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative chambers which occupy the building. The palace is one of the centres of political life in the United Kingdom; "Westminster" has become a metonym for the UK Parliament and the British Government, and the Westminster system of government commemorates the name of the palace. The Elizabeth Tower of the palace, nicknamed Big Ben, is a landmark of London and the United Kingdom in general. The Palace of Westminster has been a Grade I listed building since 1970 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he was the consort of the British monarch from Elizabeth's accession on 6 February 1952 until his death in 2021, making him the longest-serving royal consort in history.
A speech from the throne, or throne speech, is an event in certain monarchies in which the reigning sovereign, or their representative, reads a prepared speech to members of the nation's legislature when a session is opened. The address sets forth the government's priorities for its legislative agenda, for which the cooperation of the legislature is sought. The speech is often accompanied by formal ceremony. It is often held annually, although in some places it may occur more or less frequently, whenever a new session of the legislature is opened.
The Royal Standards of the United Kingdom presently refer to either of two similar flags used by King Charles III in his capacity as Sovereign of the United Kingdom, the Crown dependencies, and the British Overseas Territories. Two versions of the flag exist, one for use within Scotland and the other for use elsewhere.
The State Opening of Parliament is a ceremonial event which formally marks the beginning of each session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. At its core is His Majesty's "gracious speech from the throne", which is read by the monarch but written by HM Government. In the speech the monarch gives notice of forthcoming state visits, before setting out the government's legislative programme for the new parliamentary session. No business of either House of Parliament can proceed until the Sovereign’s speech has been delivered.
Edward Young, Baron Young of Old Windsor,, is a British courtier who served as Private Secretary to the Sovereign from 2017 to 2023. In this role, he was the senior operational member of the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. Young was recruited to the Royal Household in 2004, serving as Queen Elizabeth II's assistant and then as deputy private secretary until his promotion to private secretary in 2017. After the death of Elizabeth II in 2022, Young served as joint principal private secretary to King Charles III until he stepped down in May 2023.
Elizabeth II was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states over the course of her lifetime and remained the monarch of 15 realms by the time of her death. Her reign of over 70 years is the longest of any British monarch and the second longest verified reign of any monarch of a sovereign state in history.
In the UK and certain other Commonwealth countries, King's Consent is a parliamentary convention under which Crown consent is sought whenever a proposed parliamentary bill will affect the Crown's own prerogatives or interests. Prince's Consent is a similar doctrine, under which consent of the Prince of Wales must be obtained for matters relating to the Duchy of Cornwall. King's or Prince's Consent must be obtained early in the legislative process, generally before parliament may debate or vote on a bill. In modern times, following the tenets of constitutional monarchy, consent is granted or withheld as advised by government.
The finances of the British royal family come from a number of sources. The British government supports the monarch and some of his family financially by means of the Sovereign Grant, which is intended to meet the costs of the sovereign's official expenditures. This includes the costs of the upkeep of the various royal residences, staffing, travel and state visits, public engagements, and official entertainment. Other sources of income include revenues from the Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall, income from assets of other trusts, income from private investments, and a parliamentary annuity.
Monarchy: The Royal Family at Work is a fly on the wall documentary TV series made by the BBC and RDF Media which follows the British Royal Family over the course of a year.
Prince George of Wales is a member of the British royal family. He is the eldest child of William, Prince of Wales and Catherine, Princess of Wales. George is the eldest grandchild of King Charles III and is second in the line of succession to the British throne behind his father.
Operation London Bridge was the funeral plan for Queen Elizabeth II. The plan included the announcement of her death, the period of official mourning, and the details of her state funeral. The plan was created as early as the 1960s and revised many times in the years before her death in September 2022.
On 28 August 2019, the Parliament of the United Kingdom was ordered to be prorogued by Queen Elizabeth II on the advice of the Conservative prime minister, Boris Johnson – this advice was later ruled unlawful. The prorogation, or suspension, of Parliament was to be effective from some point between 9 and 12 September 2019 and would last until the State Opening of Parliament on 14 October 2019. As a consequence, Parliament was suspended between 10 September and 24 September 2019. Since Parliament was to be prorogued for five weeks and reconvene just 17 days before the United Kingdom's scheduled departure from the European Union on 31 October 2019, the move was seen by many opposition politicians and political commentators as a controversial and unconstitutional attempt by the prime minister to avoid parliamentary scrutiny of the Government's Brexit plans in the final weeks leading up to Brexit. Johnson and his Government defended the prorogation of Parliament as a routine political process that ordinarily follows the selection of a new prime minister and would allow the Government to refocus on a legislative agenda.
R (Miller) v The Prime Minister and Cherry v Advocate General for Scotland, also known as Miller II and Miller/Cherry, were joint landmark constitutional law cases on the limits of the power of royal prerogative to prorogue the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Argued before the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in September 2019, the case concerned whether the advice given by the prime minister, Boris Johnson, to Queen Elizabeth II that Parliament should be prorogued in the prelude to the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union was lawful.
A list of events relating to politics and government in the United Kingdom during 2022.
A State Opening of the Parliament of the United Kingdom took place on 10 May 2022. Charles, Prince of Wales, and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, opened the third session of the 58th Parliament on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II with the traditional Queen's Speech. It was the first State Opening at which two Counsellors of State acted on behalf of the monarch.
Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms, died on 8 September 2022 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, at the age of 96. Elizabeth's reign was the longest of any British monarch. She was succeeded by her eldest son, Charles III.
A State Opening of the Parliament of the United Kingdom took place on 7 November 2023 when King Charles III opened the fourth session of the 58th Parliament, which is expected to be the last before the next general election. Charles III delivered the King's Speech, his first as monarch, and set out the UK government's legislative programme for the following parliamentary session.
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