Houses of Parliament

Sat (29 Sep 07) - We went for a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament on the last day of its summer opening and learnt some of the quirky parliamentary traditions - one being that no member of the royal family has stepped into the House of Commons since King Charles I entered the Commons in an attempt to arrest five of its members. Not even the Queen has entered the Commons before. This is because members of the House of Commons are elected by the people and to preserve the independence of the Commons, the Sovereign is not allowed to enter the Commons except for the Sovereign's messengers.



















On the State Opening of Parliament which happens once a year, the Queen attends Parliament and takes her seat in the House of Lords. She will then signal her messenger, the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, to summon the House of Commons. As she cannot enter the Commons, the Usher will make his way to the Commons. As he approaches, the door of the Commons will be slammed in his face to symoblise the independence of the House of Commons. The Usher will then knock the door three times with his mace before allowing to enter and to summon the House of Commons to listen to the Queen's speech in the House of Lords. The Queen's speech usually sets out the Government's programme for the parliamentary session, the laws they wish to pass, and the changes that they plan to make.








































We went into the House of Lords (red-themed decor) and the House of Commons (green-themed). The business of Parliament takes place in the two Houses. Their work is similar: making laws, checking the work of the government and debating current issues. Generally, the decisions made in one House have to be approved by the other. Members of the House of Commons are publicly elected whilst members of the House of Lords are mostly appointed by the Queen, a fixed number are elected internally and a limited number of Church of England archbishops and bishops sit in the House of Lords.




















A large part of the Parliament buildings was destroyed by fire. The only original part that survived the fire was the Westminster Hall (above). The Royal Courts of Justice sat here until 1882, when they were moved to the Strand. Several state trials took place in the hall, including those of Sir William Wallace (Mel Gibson played William Wallace in Braveheart), the Gunpowder Plot conspirators and King Charles I.




















Stained glass in Westminster Hall















Westminster Hall is over one thousand years old and has the largest medieval roof in Northern Europe.