On 27 March 2012, twenty seven Privileged Bodies presented Loyal Addresses to The Queen at Buckingham Palace to mark the Diamond Jubilee.
The Privileged Bodies enjoy, by historic and ancient prescriptive right, dating back in many cases to the 17th century, or by express grant from the Crown, the privilege of presenting an Address to the Sovereign in person
The Privileged Bodies enjoy, by historic and ancient prescriptive right, dating back in many cases to the 17th century, or be express grant from the Crown, the privilege of presenting an Address to the Sovereign in person.
In previous centuries, when communications were much poorer than they are today, Loyal Addresses by Privileged Bodies served the dual purpose of assuring the Monarch of their subjects’ loyalty and giving the most important bodies in the land the extra-Parliamentary ear of the Sovereign.
The right of presenting Addresses to the Sovereign in person and receiving their reply was unquestionably a valuable and important privilege.
These presentations were developed when Parliament was elected on a very restricted franchise, and the use of the media and public meetings for expressing popular feeling were imperfectly developed.
Addresses given by a number of like-minded corporations or bodies was an effective means of letting the authorities know what people at large, or at any rate an organised section of them, thought and felt about current political questions, or the conduct of Government.
Nowadays, the privilege is more ceremonial in nature, serving to emphasise and reaffirm the antiquity and importance of the Privileged Bodies and exercised only on very special Royal occasions.
The Queen has been graciously pleased to receive the Privileged Bodies in person on such special occasions as her Accession in 1952, her Silver Jubilee in 1977, the engagement of The Prince of Wales in 1981 and her Golden Jubilee in 2002.
There are currently 27 Privileged Bodies:
1. The General Synod of the Church of England
2. The University of Oxford
3. The University of Cambridge
4. The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
5. The Free Churches Group
6. The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
7. The City of London Corporation
8. The Corporation of the City of Edinburgh
9. The University of Edinburgh
10. The University of London
11. The University of St. Andrews
12. The University of Glasgow
13. The University of Aberdeen
14. The Royal Society
15. The Greater London Authority
16. The Royal Academy of Arts
17. The Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Anglo-Jewish Association
18. The Governor and Company of the Bank of England
19. The Lieutenancy of the City of London
20. The Dean and Chapter of Westminster
21. The Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's Cathedral
22. The Corporation of the City of Westminster
23. The Corporation of the Royal Borough of the Windsor and Maidenhead
24. The Dean and Canons of St. George's Chapel, Windsor
25. The Royal County of Berkshire
26. The Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales
27. The Military Knights of Windsor
