Released by Buckingham Palace yesterday:
It’s a very different event this year, for obvious and not-so-obvious reasons. The Queen is not there. Prince Charles read her speech referring to “Her Majesty’s government”, as it still very much is. On the royal end, the pomp is very much toned down. There are no tiaras and no gowns in evidence. Princes Charles is in uniform, and Prince William is in a morning suit.
Throughout The Queen’s Speech, the Prince of Wales is referring to ‘Her Majesty’s Government’ rather than ‘my government’ as he would have done in a verbatim reading of the speech prepared for The Queen by the government pic.twitter.com/prcSr3bELQ
— Royal Central (@RoyalCentral) May 10, 2022
The Imperial State Crown was carried in, followed by the two Counsellors of State, Prince Charles and Prince William.
The Imperial State Crown leads the way – a symbol of the authority of the monarch – and behind it walk the 2 Counsellors of State appointed by the Queen to stand in for her today: Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.#StateOpeningofParliament pic.twitter.com/EFGVFuB3DT
— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) May 10, 2022
The Duchess of Cornwall wore a repeated blue suit with white trim, and (alas) the shoes that seem to be her go-to for these blue and white ensembles. It is a very different type of appearance and may be a nod to what we can expect in the future. We saw this coat (with a different hat) during the welcome ceremony for the Dutch State Visit in 2018. She wore her four-strand pearl necklace with the round diamond clasp – her “every day” choice.
The Duke of Cambridge re-arranged his schedule to be the second counsellor in attendance this morning. He is off to join the Duchess at a memorial in Manchester, to honor the victims of the Ariana Grande concert bombing.
Please add your comments and photos below! We will be around with official photographs once they are available.