The State Opening of Parliament will take place in just under two weeks’ time.
The speech that The King reads from the throne will be written by his incoming Labour administration. Sir Keir Starmer’s party has taken power after a landslide victory in the general election on July 4th 2024.
Sir Keir becomes King Charles III’s third Prime Minister and the first Labour premier of the new reign.
The State Opening is now set for July 17th 2024 with both King Charles and Queen Camilla expected to be in attendance as the Commons join the Lords in the upper chamber to hear His Majesty set out his new government’s plans.
The date chosen is, co-incidentally, the 77th birthday of The Queen.
The King’s role in the snap general election and its results has been important.
When Rishi Sunak decided to call a ballot, he had to ask Charles III to dissolve parliament and The King gave his assent.
Now that voters have chosen who they want to govern, His Majesty will receive the outgoing Prime Minister to accept his resignation and then hold an audience with the leader of the largest party in the Commons. During this meeting, King Charles will ask Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer to form an administration.
The ceremony of kissing hands will take place – this is an ancient tradition which used to involve the new PM actually kissing the Monarch’s hand. Now, it is purely symbolic and will involve Sir Keir bowing to The King to show loyalty to the Crown.
The final part of The King’s involvement in the process of the UK getting a new government will be the State Opening which is expected to feature the usual pageantry. King Charles and Queen Camilla will arrive by carriage at the Houses of Parliament before processing to the Lords.
Even if The King chooses not to wear the Imperial State Crown for the event, it will still have to be present. Whenever Queen Elizabeth II chose not to wear it for a State Opening, it was instead placed beside her on a table.
