The Queen's Speech--Day 13

Today, I went to Heythrop for another exciting day of classes. British Politics was particularly interesting because we talked about Americans' stereotypes of Brits and Brits' stereotypes of Americans. You'll be pleased to know that even though there are some bad stereotypes of Americans--most of them pretty spot-on (i.e., we're loud, we're obsessed with fitness yet suffer from obesity, we're self-centered as a nation, etc.), the Brits admire a lot about us. For instance, they appreciate our warmth and affability as well as our welcoming nature, which they see us expressing to all types of people (the Brits seem to be a bit less tolerant of difference). In addition, Britain and a lot of Europe are grateful to the United States for our help in defeating Hitler and his regime during World War II. They believe that if we had not offered them assistance, the Allies would not have won the war. What a heart-warming thing to hear from a Brit himself! Later in class, we watched a video about the pomp and circumstance surrounding the opening of Parliament, a yearly ceremony. The process goes a bit like this:
1. A carriage with the actual crown (the object, not a person) travels from Buckingham Palace to the Houses of Parliament.
2. The Queen follows, accompanied by either her husband or Prince Charles.
3. The Queen enters the Houses of Parliament though the Sovereign's Entrance, then she makes her way to the robing room, where the meager crown on her head is exchanged for a much more appropriate one, and she is attired in a long, flowing robe. The Queen proceeds to the front of the House of Lords, where she sits on her throne next to her escort (the above-mentioned husband or Prince Charles). She nods, then a man carrying a white stick signals to a man carrying a black rod (named Black Rod).
4. Black Rod walks down the aisle to the door separating the House of Lords (HOL) from the House of Commons (HOC). An important thing to note at this stage is the difference between the HOL and HOC. The members of the HOL are appointed by Her Majesty based on lifetime achievements and contributions to society. The members of the HOC are all elected by British subjects. Thus, the HOC represents the people's voice in Parliament, their measure of power in the government. The door between the two Houses is partially open when Black Rod begins his walk, but as he reaches the door, the members of the HOC slam the door in his face! (A symbol of opposition to the rule of the Monarchy and of support for democracy.)
5. Black Rod knocks the rod on the door three or four times, after which he is begrudgingly allowed to enter the HOC. He announces the Queen's wish to have the HOC come to the HOL (the Monarchy is never allowed to set foot in the HOC because the Monarchy is in opposition to democracy). Some of the members of the HOC make jokes at his expense, then everyone gets up and follows him out with little ceremony, taking their time to show the HOL and the Queen that they can do whatever they want, whenever they want.
6. Once everyone is assembled, the Queen reads a speech written for her by the Prime Minister and the government of the day, a speech which lists the legislation that Parliament wishes to pass during the next year.

The ceremony itself was enjoyable to watch, but even more enjoyable to watch were my professor's reactions. He got so excited telling us who each person was and the role they play in the ceremony. He got particularly excited at the Queen's speech because she said something about "high-speed broadband internet connection," which is a really funny thing for the Queen to say when she's all dressed up in her royal finery and sitting amidst similarly-clad Lords, heralds, pageboys, and ladies-in-waiting. It just seemed so gosh-darn out of place.

I'm sorry for the lack of photos for these past couple of days. I've really been looking for good things to take pictures of, but the truth is that we haven't really been doing anything exciting, at least nothing exciting that also lends itself to good photos. However, tomorrow our history class is taking a field trip to St. Paul's Cathedral, so I'm sure I'll have some awesome stuff to show you then. To be continued...