On days like these it pays to have a sense of humour. Or at the very least a fondness for the theatre of the absurd. It might be all change over in the House of Commons but there are traditions still to be observed in the Lords for the state opening of parliament.
This is the day the upper chamber comes over all Disney. The day when nobody laughs when the cap of maintenance gets its own horse carriage from Buckingham Palace to Westminster. Definitely nothing weird about that. The day when the Bluemantle Pursuivant, the Maltravers Herald Extraordinary and the Clarenceux King of Arms – whoever they are in real life – all get to make guest appearances. And everyone stands for their arrival.
