Lords and Ladies

London

We had an 8:45 departure this morning [Monday] from the hotel; first stop The Palace of Westminster, or more commonly known as the Houses of Parliament.

I’ve been to London many times before and there’s much to see, but I’ve never been to see Parliament from the inside prior to this trip. Our guides were able to secure a tour for us thanks to the courtesy of The Hon. Nicholas Soames, MP, grandson of Sir. Winston.

Due to all the terrorists and security troubles, security is naturally quite tight around the building itself. Barricades and Bobbies everywhere. Everything however is quite in the British tradition and highly organized. We’re off the bus and through the security in no time at all thanks to our rather efficient British guide Gerry Clark. We were organized into small groups each with a very professional guide. Our fellow had obviously been doing this for quite some time, though he was young, he had some great stories about some of the origins of the customs and traditions of the parliament.

The original part of this magnificent building was built in 1097 during the reign of King William II. This Great Hall is now under refurbishment and it’s mainly used for the lying of state; most recently Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. The building itself has over 1000 rooms and in that fine British tradition, nine pubs.

To look down the across Great Hall from the entrance is a breathtaking sight; a great site indeed, a vast open space with something like 14 tons of English Oak making up the roof. One can actually smell the history that has taken place in this great room.

The first room that we entered when we arrived was one of the apartments of state. This is the room where the monarch will enter; crown themselves, be then robed by their attendants, and proceed into the House of Lords to open Parliament each year.

Naturally such a grand room requires ample amounts of gold leaf. So much so in this case that one artist spent countless years on the project in such focus and determination that he finally went completely mad and was checked into a lunatic asylum.

After leaving this very grand state apartment we preceded, as Queen Elizabeth II has done since she succeeded to the throne of England in 1953, into the House of Lords. There are only 92 hereditary lords in the house these days. There were 724 until Tony Blair’s government succeeded in eliminating the majority of them. In addition to the remaining 92, there are 699 peers, two Archbishops, and 24 Bishops that make up the Lords.