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Queen Elizabeth IIState & Ceremonial

Crisis averted for The Queen as Royal Ascot & the State Opening of Parliament fail to overlap

A near-crisis has been averted for The Queen after it was revealed that the State Opening of Parliament and Royal Ascot meeting would fall on different days.

It was feared that Her Majesty would be forced to miss one of her favourite days of the year at the Berkshire racecourse if the State Opening occurred on the same day.

The State Opening of Parliament will take place on Monday, June 19th. Ascot will immediately follow, running from Tuesday 20th to Saturday 24th.

State Opening of Parliaments usually occur on Wednesdays, so it is unusual that the ceremony will take place on a Monday this year.

It is possible that Her Majesty had some influence in this, so she wasn’t forced to miss the races, an event she attends each year without fail.

It will be an extremely busy week for the 91-year-old monarch. On Saturday 17th June, she will celebrate her official birthday and will attend Trooping the Colour parade.

There will be major changes to this year’s State Opening of Parliament due to the snap general election.

In a heavily dressed down affair, Her Majesty will not wear her Imperial Crown or Robes of State this year, and will also arrive in her car instead of a carriage.

Also absent from the annual ceremony this year will be the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall. It is expected that they will return to their positions beside the throne in 2018.

There are two reasons for these changes – most notably that the ceremony has been rescheduled with short notice due to the early election.

The ceremony usually takes place in May, however, with no Parliament to be opened, there is little choice but to rearrange for June.

This means the army will have little time to prepare for the state procession as Trooping the Colour takes place just a couple of days before Her Majesty opens Parliament.