The Queen, accompanied by The Duke of Edinburgh, will open Parliament.

Her Majesty will travel to the Palace of Westminster in a State procession, where she will read The Queen's Speech, written by her Government.

Event highlights
The ceremony itself takes place in the House of Lords, to which the Commons are summoned to hear The Queen's Speech setting out the policies of her government. 
 
Her Majesty travels from Buckingham Palace to Westminster in the Irish State Coach, drawn by four horses, with a Household Cavalry escort. 

The Queen is preceded down the route by the regalia, which, having been collected from the Tower of London, are transported from Buckingham Palace in a carriage of their own, usually Queen Alexandra's State Coach.
 
Before the royal procession sets out, a detachment of the Yeomen of the Guard carries out the ancient tradition of searching the cellars of the Houses of Parliament.  This dates back to 4 November 1605, when Guy Fawkes was arrested whilst preparing, as part of the Gunpowder Plot, to blow up the Houses of Parliament and their occupants.  
 
On arrival, The Queen puts on her Regalia in the Robing Room.
 
The royal procession then makes its way through the Royal Gallery to the Chamber of the House of Lords.  
 
The Queen sits on the throne, with the Duke of Edinburgh on her left and the Prince of Wales, as heir to the throne, on her right. 

The Lord Chancellor now advances, removes The Queens Speech from the special silk bag in which he has been holding it, and hands it on bended knee to the Sovereign.  But before it is read, the faithful Commons must be summoned to attend to hear the contents. 

At this moment the traditional ritual is carried out as a reminder of the right of the Commons to exclude everyone but the Sovereign's messengers, and of the abuse of this privilege committed by Charles I some 350 years ago, when he entered the Commons and tried to arrest the members. 

The Lord Great Chamberlain raises his wand of office, whereupon the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod, in his capacity as the Sovereign's Messenger, makes his way to the House of Commons.  As he approaches, the Serjeant-at-Arms there carefully slams the door in his face.  Black Rod then knocks three times with his rod, the Serjeant-at-Arms looks through the grille to identify the caller, and only then is the door opened. 

The Sovereign's summons to the Commons is thereupon conveyed to the Speaker by Black Rod, with the words, 'Mr Speaker, The Queen commands this Honourable House to attend Her Majesty immediately in the House of Peers'.

With traditional lack of haste, the Commons, led by the Speaker and the Serjeant-at-Arms bearing his mace, proceed to the House of Lords, deliberately chatting casually as they approach just to show that they stand in no awe of the other place. 

Not all the 635 members of Parliament attend, for there would not be room, so a representative group of some 250 appear, standing at the opposite end of the Chamber to the Sovereign, to listen to the most Gracious Speech from the Throne, at the end of which Parliament is officially open.
 
Previous State Openings
Traditionally, the Sovereign opens Parliament in person. Queen Victoria, however, declined to attend the ceremony between 1862 (the year following Prince Albert's death) and 1865.  During these years Parliament was opened by Commission, with the Lords Commissioners (the Lord Chancellor, the Lord President of the Council, the Lord Privy Seal, the Lord Steward and the Lord Chamberlain) seated between the throne and the woolsack in the House of Lords.  The Lord Chancellor read the Queen's Speech in the third person.  Between 1866 and her death in 1901, Queen Victoria opened Parliament seven times.  On the occasions during these years when she was not present and Parliament was opened by Commission, the Lord Chancellor read the speech in the first person singular, exactly as the Queen would have delivered it.
 
King Edward VII attended every State Opening of Parliament in his reign.  King George V was present in every year except 1935 (the year in which his sister Princess Victoria died and the King was too upset to attend), when Parliament was opened by Commission.  King George VI attended every year except 1951, when he was too ill to be present; Parliament was again opened by Commission.  During the Second World War years, a scaled-down ceremony was enacted.
 
During her reign The Queen has opened Parliament every year except 1959 and 1963, when she was expecting Prince Andrew and Prince Edward respectively.  Unless he is abroad, she is accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh; the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Princess Royal have also often accompanied her.  While travelling to and from the House of Lords, The Queen wears a long evening dress with long white gloves, necklace, earrings, bracelet and the diamond diadem.  In the Robing Room of the Lords she replaces the diadem with the Imperial State Crown and puts on the Garter collar with diamond George and the parliamentary robe.  After the ceremony the robe and crown are removed and the diadem replaced.  The Duke of Edinburgh wears the naval full dress uniform of an Admiral of the Fleet, including his medals and a sword.  Around his neck hangs the badge of the Grand Master of the Order of the British Empire, and around his shoulders he wears the collar of the Order of the Garter.
 
The State Opening of Parliament was televised for the first time in 1958. 

Media arrangements
If you would like to cover this event, please contact the Buckingham Palace press office.

Further information
10 Downing Street website (opens in new window)
Parliament website (opens in new window)