Vote. This weekend watch cspan cities tour to hatiesbering, michigan on cspan twos book tv and American History tv on cspan 3. Good morning and welcome to bbc parliaments live coverage of the state opening at parliament. In her ninetyfirst, its the 56th parliament of the united kingdom. And this morning, we welcome viewers to cspan, our sister channel in the united states. I recen its about 5 30 in the morning on the eastern seaboard. It is of course a conservative government beginning its second year in aufloffice, a government without its problems as it faces support coming European Union referendum campaign. However, were focusing on a british tradition. The next hour 1 2 well spend looking that saur moceremony an governments plans to be unveiled in the queens speech. Im joined by the conservative pire and more importantly for the thriller writer, lord daubs. The historian, Kate Williams of redding university. And the former sergeant of arms lawrence ward. You retired from your post last autumn . I wish it was retirement, i went to another job. You left it. Among those attending today, the Prime Minister. He left downy street a short time ago. The doors of number 10 open. And the Prime Minister, hes actually been leader of the conservative party for 11 years now and weve also seen the arrival westminster of the leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbin. He arrived on the embankment. Times have changed for Jeremy Corbin. He said the state opening all its pageantry, with a hereditary house of lords and hereditary monarch and on the 91 birthday of the queen, saying as a relatively young whipper snapper, im fully in favor of the a country having leaders of a finer vintage. Were talking about a highly respected individual whos 90. I think it just proves that youre never too late to take up a new career and learn something else. So, its going to be quite an amazing day for Jeremy Corbin to find himself at the state opening. And kate, if i could turn to you. So, her 91st year of the queen. The queen is that symbol of continuity, is she not . Yes, this is true. 90 years as you say and this is 1952, apart from when she was pregnant and in 2011 when the government canceled it it. So, shes been at the state opening of parliament every year she possibly can be and providing continuity right back to the ceremony in this form was brought in 1852 and pretty much every monarch has been here ever since, apart from victoria who took time off after the death of albert. Were looking in the house of lords now. They dont wear urmen every day, lord daubs, apparently. Were all wearing our silk and our urman. But this is the only day we wear the traditional uniform, unless were introducing a new pier in which case we put on the robes. Were ordinary folks. Thats so reassuring. There are actually 807 of you nowadays. So, there are quite a lot of ordinary folks in the house of lords. Its too big. It is too big. We are briefly looking that thrones. The queens on the left and the duke of edenberros on the right. And Prince Charles and the duchess of cornwell. Master of ceremonies today and hes talking on the right there archbishop of canterberry and on the left with the beard the bishop of london. And thats lord willis, a sort of conservative thinker, you might say. Talking to lord damorlay. And you can give me a few more names as we go along. There are new, and old. Young, vibrant life. We have plenty of more women than the house of commons do. Not surprising theres 800 of you. Per capita. As far as a portion of the population is concerned. If it were left to the house of lords right now, collectively, we would cut our knife said back quite sharply. Because there are too many. It makes it very difficult for us to work properly. The facilities arent there to work properly. And yet 61 new peers last year. Although, people are starting to retire. 25 peers retired. But the numbers are still going. When does it stop . Well, it doesnt stop as long as the Prime Minister insists on putting fresh people in. It needs an element of self control on the part of Party Leaders to stop jamming the face full of their friends. This is historically huge for the house of lords in terms of numbers. It is a very great house of lords. Wee weve seen the cutback of the hereditary peers and replaced by those made of political appointments. We might see some sort of restriction on the peers and the veto. But certainly following from that statutory instrument defeat. Its 10 40 in the morning. As sergeantatarms, state opening, in fact this time last year, what would you be doing this time of day . Probably with the speaker and other officials that house of commons going through the business of the day. We would all be in our finery. When do you get dressed . 7 30 in the morning. So, its a very long day. Its the same uniform but theres additional elements to it. A lot more lace. A lot more lace and the color of ss is sewn on to the shoae s shoulders of the uniform at 7 30 so it doesnt slip. By this time you already feel as though youve done a days work. Sgli its a very important day. It has a party atmosphere. 350e7er people are going there and celebrating all these traditions. It is the only day we get dressed up and it is a bit like a fancy dress party as well as being a very serious occasion. Well come back to you all soon. So, weve seen the lords and ladies in their tiaras and well see the guard assembled ready to welcome the royal party to westminster. But what kind of modern message might this ancient ritual convey . State open of parliament demonstrates how we understand power. The people vote. The parliament is elelected. The governing party doesnt impose its will on the population and it asks as the queen as the representative of the whole nation to deliver to parliament a description of what it proposes to do that it can be made accountable for. Some people might think thats a rose tinted view of our democracy as it works in practice. Its an assprational view of our democracy but that is how it works in practice. When one party wins an election, it doesnt ride rough shot over the rest of the population. The queen presided overher first state opening of parliament in 1952 and shes attended all but two ceremonies since and that includes a scaled down event in march 1974, after the election of the minority labor government. No carriages then but what mattered was the meeting of monarch, lords and commons. Today for the first time this ceremony is being watched, not only by those who are present in this chamber but by many millions of my subjects. Peoples in other lands will also be able to witness this renewal of the life of parliament. I do think that the british constitution, informally, because there isnt a written one, has got something pretty special. Straight forward democracy. A democracy in which the majority rule under certain constraints and theres protection for minorities and we preserve the notion that there is a person. That our loyalty isnt to an idea, its to a person. Weve seen where loyalty to an idea can go badly wrong and i have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that the promises she made at her cornation echo in her life. Shes almost laid down her life for the country in order to play a role that we desperately need and seldom thank her for. Kate williams, one of the things that salmon wells told me, said the queen exercise her authority, not by opposing her will, by representing and articulating the voice of the people. Sounds in some ways, well, quite a convoluted description of the monarchy. Do you believe that at all . Youre sort of saying she enable as democracy to happen by being this figure at the top. And its been vital to the queen that she is politically neutral. It was part of her lessons that she had to remain out of politics and unlike lots of monarchs before, she has stayed out of politics and thereby enables government to do what it wished without her medaling. Weve had interesting words about the chinese recently. And coming down is the rugalia procession of the crown and the sword of state. And behind that is the state car with the two masters brought by the sergeant in arms in bucki Buckingham Palace. We saw five this morning, but you are the sergeantatarms, werent you . And i would like to think the most important, but thats not true. The only one known full time as a sergeantatarms. Thats right. But what really struck me on state opening day was my eye site distance isnt very good and i really should wear glasses. Too vaein. But i remember the glistening in the diamonds in the crown. When it catches the light, it really does catch it. Its already there. Its been delivered in the armed guard for the tower. It left the tower of london but its in the carriage now. And that is queen alexandras state coach on its way with the horses, now, i said to your sergeant of arm said, ls, lawret is the day job . Being responsible for security and access to the house of commons. And its working directly with the speaker of the house of commons to inhad susure that th public can get in and that members can get around and about and that the function of parliament can continue. So, its a very difficult balancing act allowing access to the public but also keeping them safe so the business of the house can continue. This is probably not the kind of thing i should mention today but it is well known that one of your thrillers is about the state opening. Oh, yes. And it doesnt go according to plan. No, it doesnt. T they usually go exceedingly well to plan. But one did faint, which hadnt happened before. You could see the tremor of fear going through everybody. Do we ignore the poor thing . The dutchess of cambridge suggested somebody do something about the poor boy. Lawrence was responsible for security. Security is an exceedingly difficult problem for the pallase of westminster and 10 15 years ago when i wrote the book, the security was something of a joke, in my view and needed real review and it hadnt been reviewed. But i said with the old Security System where the state opening was held hostage. Everybody in that room youll see, we have the monarchy, the government, the opposition, the lords, the ambassadors, the judges, everybody who matters is the whole british establishment in one room. And sitting ducks. And we needed to take rather more care of that security than sending around the guards to have a look to see if there was gun powder underneath. Which is pretty much there they are. Thats where the action takes place . Its not a bad office to work in. You said you cant find offices for you all. Yes, but the chamber is our main office. Thats where we do the day job part of it. Theres the diplomatic court. Theyre sitting behind the bishops. And go on, michael. Youre interested in power and the exercise of power. And in britain and Frank Underwood in the u. S. Theyre interested in power. Theyre not at all interested in the content of the queens speech. Not remotely interested in one bit of it. Were not talking about a documentary here, were talking about a drama series. There is a difference. The Prime Minister in italy was mr. Renzsey was photographed going to the buy a copy of the house of cards. This is a work of entertainment, not instruction. When youve been to a chamber in the british parliament, do you feel it was more accurate than you expected or perhaps less accurate . I do occasionally get the idea there are plenty of people in parliament and elsewhere who are dishing furiously for parts in the next series. But what drama does is remind you that were looking that functions of power and the policies and everything else. But at the end of the day, it comes down to people and personalities. And we will be looking at queens speech which will set out the governments program, but we know it will be interfered with and affected, perhaps even undermined the way that after the queens speech, different personalities will disagree and try to move the agenda in a different direction. You mentioned briefly earlier, that after all this queen has attended all but two openings of parliament and only one which was a nonstate opening of parliament in march 1974. But Queen Victoria, slightly shorter reign, she rather did get out of state opening. 1852 was the first one because you have the house of parliament there. And albert died in 1862, 10 years later, so she declined to attend between 1862 and 1865 and then she came seven times in 35 odd years. That was fast. Nervous tension. And it was open there by basically a constitution had to open it. Royal commission. And the lord chancellor read the speech. Yes. Did that damage the image of the monarchy . Certainly it did from 1862 to 1865, certainly the idea that she was staying away because albert had died. She was locking herself up in mourning. It was a balance between playing the role of the mourning wife and playing the constitutional role which demands that the monarch is there at state openings. So, when she wasnt seen in general. And every time she did come, they begged her to come again. It was vital for her to attend but she simply didnt do so. In the end of her life, she wasnt in the same fantastic health as our own monarch but it wasnt her greatest decision not to attend. Another look at the regallia procession in the queen alexandria state coach. There is a ragalia expert and its commanded by tom horton who rides a 17 hand gelding and 21 years of age. So, quite a veteran of these parades. And this rugaagalia pruzegz is coming along the side of Parliament Square. You can see the union jacks on the right. Theres a new crossing now. So, makes it quite easy to cross from the pavement on to Parliament Square itself. Which previously was rather difficult and the pavement has been considerably widened in front of what is actually new palace yard on the left. Youre seeing a bit of green. Thats as your end of the build, lawrence. And youll see those that are usually on the road have been removed to allow the carriages to go through. And the preparations start weeks ago. So there would have been rehearsals at 4 00 in the morning over the weekend so Everybody Knows exactly what theyre doing. And it looks like a well oiled machine but Little Things happen on the edges that arent quite planned for. But it usually works to the second, to the minute at least. Lined up, the god of honor, the First Battalion of the irish guards and the irish guards band in the two lines of the guard and they will present arms as the crown goes by and any second now they will turn left towards victoria tower. Our first view of the imperial state crown, the sword of state and the cap of maintenance. And when it arrives at the sovereign stair case, theres a kind of juggling act to get the crown out of the carriage. An attempt that no one drops it and the right person ends up with the crown at the end of the procedure that started with. But the amazing thing is the person who first hands the crown out is the person who ends up with the crown at the end of the process. Talking of crowns, queen victor you didnt wear the crown much. Our imperial state crown in 1937. So, Queen Victoria had a different version. It was a dinky crown and it was rather small and much but this one i mean, this is a full kilogram of stuff. But victoria found it uncomfortable and she didnt like the wearing of the robes. She refused to do it during her jubilees much to the please of her ministers because otherwise she wouldnt look as royal they thought. She was more low key. So, it was tricky for her to wear it but this monarch does indeed. Theyre awaiting to receive the crown. The crown jeweller has taken the crown from the controller of the Lord Chamberlains Office whos now actually getting out of the carriage and the barge master not quite in his super finery because he appears to be wearing his barge masters mack. Its a nice mack and the crown at this stage is on a rather small cushion and finally from sir andrew ford to the crown jeweller to the barge master and back to sir andrew thort. Theyve done this highly delicate past to parcel. I was lucky enough to go to the tower of london last year. Nothing beats seeing it in real life in the tower of london because it is so astonishingly sparkally. And looking at its most sparkly for this moment but we have great stones in there. The stone from edward, the confessors ring. And the crown itself is guided by two of the honorable core of gentleman at arms and bringing up the rear, the two sargeants at arms from Buckingham Palace. Stanley and wheaten. Sorry, kate. It has the stone from edward the confessors ring and what it really symbolizes is it reminds us this is the crown the queen wears after shes crown. The only time she wears it is at the state opening and after shes crowned. When she comes out of the cornation ceremony, this is what she wears. There are monarchies left in the world but they are slightly reluctant crown wearers. I think we are the most enthusiastic crown wearers. In holland, in norway and in sweden. But our crown, particularly because we have so many great stones that date back to the 13th century, they are themselves great historic symbols of monarchy. One thing i never quite understood and perhaps kate can tell me. Oh, good. What is the cap of maintenance . Nobody seems to tell me what its for, where it comes from . Well come back while kate reassesses her thoughts on the cap of maintenance. Well watch the controller of the Lord Chamberlains Office carrying it on its bigger cushion, much more glitsy cushion and up to the royal gallery and the norman stair case lined by the brilliantly named stair case party of the house hold cavalry, so called because theyre on the stair case and here it is, the imperial state crown and he will deliver that crown to the lord great chamberlain. And at that point, the guard of honor changes to two men of the guard. A different outfit. And the lord great chamberlain has successfully taken delivery of the crown and youll see that in the royal gallery, everyone has stood for the arrival of the crown. And behind the crown will indeed be the cap of maintenance and the sword of state and they go into their little positions waiting to be carried in a processi procession. Carried by kerncolonel vernon. And secretary of state, kelvin donohue. Time for a cap of maintenance explanati explanation. It has always been there. Its a key part of the regalia that we see only in the state opening of parliament. And it is essentially purely a traditional part of it. Once we start questioning what are the regalia of monarchy what does it maintain . Theres a suggestion that if the crown was ever not available, we would wear the cap of maintenance. The one we display is in memory of a cap of maintenance of henry roam rothe 8th that he received from the pope. Because they wear that at the papal ceremony. Its good to have one on hand. Lawrence, you know perfectly well that your end of the building, the rabl end of the building, there will be a lot of people think what michael and kate has been saying is a load of mumbo jumbo. I think everyone gets caught up in the occasion. Its the day when the spotlight is on parliament. Its the day when everyone wears their finery. And there is a bit of a party feel about the place. And actually the commons does like a ceremony. Yeah, it does. And theres nothing that members like more than walking up to the house of lords and being a little bit noisy and kind of disruptive because the lords are very, very well behaved and its very peaceful and quiet when they arrive and they like to flex their muscles a bit and say weve arrived, here we are and they like to be noticed. But part of the function. And quite a rush you lead the pruzeocession together withe speaker and lot of people are hovering around trying to get good places in the house of lords to hear the speech and no doubt so their constituents its one of the most contentious elements. Lots of members attend for prayers. Feel its their right to then follow the procession out. Some decide not to attend prayers. And then they try to leap in to the convoy, as its on its way. But you were in charge of the door keepers. There were several conversations over the years about how to corral the train of people going up. And one of the ideas was to have a rope. They need roping off. But Buckingham Palace, her majesty the queen, accompanied by the duke of edenburough. And the queen, i think hes the only man to wear this little r cornet and they set off in the Diamond Jubilee carriage in fact. Stunning piece of work. And it took eight years to build. I suppose we are a bit in the world short of carriage builders these days. But this was build by really a real enthusiast. An australian, originally. He worked a long time in britain. And this really was very much his lifes work and although it could take a very long time to build and was extremely expensive, but by the end, he had to mortgage his house to pay for it. Now, the carriage is drawn by what everyone tells me are six grays. And they have lovely names. Milford haven, storm, coachman, claudia, meg, and tyrone. Its a we bit foggy and i suspect because the rain is quite heavy outside. Kate, you arrived late. Was it raining . Its pretty much british weather outside. Fog and a bit of rain. Yes, i think we are going to be having rather heavy showers. Edward 8th not much later he abdicated it was raining so much they had to use the cars. The lord great chamberlain picks up the crown once hes heard that the queen has left bucki Buckingham Palace and hes going to take that into the queens waiting room. Strictly speaking, lord chumly is the acting, the lord great chamberlain acting in the rain of elizabeth ii, because they do it every alternate reign. They were the edward the 8th lord great chamberlain and they thought oh, dear, thats it, after 11 months, it goes to another family. Theyve done better since. Theyve had a very long reign of the queens since 1952 and the next family to inherit is the carrington family. Lord carrington, the conservative peer, age 97 now. Whether he does the duty himself, i dont think maybe. But his son. He might still have quite a wait because this queen seems to be she out lives everybody. Absolutely. And its one of the dont want to say nonsenses of the constitution. This should be a hereditary thing to pass on and if it works, why bother looking for other alternatives . Until 1964, the lord great chamberlain was an actual executive control of the palace. Thats when he gave power to the sergeant in arm sas in the housf commons. Right as well. Youre quite right, it did change. Thats what makes the sergeantatarms role quite powerful. Thats a huge amount of responsibility because the buck kind of stops with those roles. The lord great chamberlain looks after the royal parts a of the palace. The remaining royal bits of the palace. Oh, well, there are many royal parts of the palace and his key role is to care for these royal parts of the palace and it is a vital role which he does actually report to her majesty on. Hes his direct manager. We see most of what we see in the glittery bits of today are the royal bits of the palace, arent they, the robing room itself. The joint chairs, job share, isnt it . Yeah, thats right. And they have to be all diplomatic with each other there. Many stake holders. You mentioned the lord great chamberlain of 1983 saying i must go consult with the other stake holdardserholders. Thats right. And the queen only comes there with inhad vitation. Part of this is to show how much things have come by civil war and shes only allowed in when the parliament wishes to allow her. So, an alliance how its a Constitutional Monarchy as the whole tradition of the hostage mp. And that hostage is chris hopkins, i think. But this is the procession of the prince of whales and the duchess of cornwall and they are in the irish state coach. And hes wearing the uniform of an admiral of the fleet and they are in the irish stage coach and its being pulled by their horses. And their horses, cinderella and bermuda. Black or brown. They look very gorgeous. Then you have two horses actually. Theyre bay horses, which apparently is the right word for brown. And the coachman, you see there, hes wearing his wet weather gear and the out rider is getting off the back of the coach. Theyre tricky things to break brake as in come to a stop and thats why the sand is there. They have the sharp turn and then they have to break right at the right place. Her royal hiness the duchess of cornwall and the sash shes wearing is of a dade commander of the victorian order. Shes met by the earl marshal and prince cornwall, earl of carry, barren of wen froe. Lord of the aisles and great stewart of scotland and his sash is the green sash of the order of the thistle. And the duke of norfolk will lead them up the royal stair case, lined not only by the house hold cavalry but the pursevents and kings of arms with their white staves of office. This earl marshal this year is not wearing his dukes robes. Hes taken leave of absence from the house of lords for a year or two. But he told me he was fully intending to get back in the house of lords and will be taking the oath of allegiance before long and maybe next state opening hell be wearing his dukes robes over all that magnificent uniform. But its a magnificent uniform. Its actually lovely to see it. Together with the lord great chamberlain sit as of right in the house of lords, regardless of the rest of the reforms made. Sorry, kate. I going to say thats not traditional to see the heir to the thrown at the state opening. She announced a short while ago she would only do one term of office and in fact, nominations close tomorrow for those who want to be lord speaker, putting yourself forward, lord daubs . I havent yet decided. Still time. Not neutral enough. And now the lord high chancellor of great britain, michael goe and get quite a lot of bills concerning his department. Hes the 220th lord chancellor. Richard heaten, the deputy clock of the crown and the Deputy Assistant sergeant of arms and the amy reece, who is lord chancellors private secretary and most importantly, because shes carrying the speech in it, putell, the lord chancellors purse bearer. Its an enormous purse and its fair to say shes not enormous herself. Shes really quite tiny. You can see there the seating all laid out. Should be quite something celebrating the queens 90th birthday and this is the procession of the queen and the duke of edenburrough. And you can see a bit of fan fair in the distance there. Another part of the royal house of lords, you can see it lined by the guard and this is the bits of the lord chancellors procession that have no more to do for the moment. So, theyre walking back through the royal gallery from whens they came a few moments ago. Would you be watching at all on the telly . Getting glimpses. Now, coming to collect the cap of maintenance and the sword of state is field marshal and the privy seal, bear bauer ness and theyre standing along side the sword and the cap ready to receive them later on. And on this rather gray day, queens procession makes its way to westminster. The funny thing is one thing everyone thought when state opening moved to may is it would be lovely sunny days and people would get far too hot in the uniform sa uniforms. Well, 2014 was raining and here we go again. They are incredibly hot and particularly with the stip collars. Because there are so many people crammed into it, it gets very, very hot indeed. So, the november state openings were a relief. This has never been shown on the live coverage before. This is the first time theres been a camera in the Princes Chamber and these are the gentleman of arms. Theyre right behind the thrown and theyre standing there because theyre the closest guard to the sovereign. And the oldest guard. So, theres a little jealousy there and the captain of the gentleman at arms is the government chief whiff in the house of lords. He does get to wear a fantastic uniform today and that standard, if you can see in the middle of your screen will be lowered with an all mighty sort of rally escflourish as the procession comes through and the queens procession has made it to the center in the diamond jiubilee coach. As coaches goeri, its pretty motermo modern, electric windows, air conditioning. And the coachman are hargrave, kemp, and mcgregor. And its still magnificent. It is magnificent. We will never see any kind of ceremony like this unless it is a coronation. So, its something very special and obviously dates her back to 1852, but the ceremony itself goes way back to the middle ages and in it, there might be people in the world watching saying what are these uniforms . What is the set up simply for the monarch to read her speech . But it is a Constitutional Monarchy, which was cemented during victorias reign. They got badly organized and there was a Royal Commission to look at it and get it properly set down. Because certainly edward the 7th was a stickler for ceremony and because his mother hadnt shown up and he wasnt interested in the royal regalir. So, it was very crucial to him to reexamine it and its thanks to him that we have the ceremony we have today. Um, yes