<\/p>\n
The King will head to Parliament today for the State Opening,
\neven as Westminster is gripped by debate about whether Prime
\nMinister, Sir Keir Starmer, is on his way out of Downing
\nStreet.<\/p>\n
Intense pressure has built around Sir Keir in recent days,
\nfollowing a string of poor election results for his Labour party in
\npolls around the country.<\/p>\n
The PM has said he\u2019s got no intention of resigning but the 24
\nhours before the State Opening were filled by political
\nturmoil.<\/p>\n
Four ministers quit his government, hot on the heels of six
\nministerial aides who gave up their roles after confidence in the
\nPM began to ebb.<\/p>\n
At least 89 Labour MPs have called on the Prime Minister to
\nstand aside. However, no one has, yet, put themselves forward to
\nchallenge for the role of leader of the Labour Party.<\/p>\n
Sir Keir Starmer now faces the strange position of walking into
\nthe House of Lords at the head of the 650 MPs who sit in the
\nCommons to hear The King\u2019s speech lay out the plans of a government
\nthat no one is sure he will continue to lead in the forseeaable
\nfuture.<\/p>\n
The political uncertainty won\u2019t change the State Opening of
\nParliament. The King\u2019s Speech, written by the government, is
\nalready prepared and it is the agenda of the whole administration,
\nnot a personal document from the PM.<\/p>\n
However, it is likely that any replacement for Sir Keir Starmer
\nwould want to set their own agenda and so the King\u2019s Speech may be
\nof limited lifespan.<\/p>\n
There is also a possibility that Labour MPs decide not to vote
\nin favour of the Speech when it is laid before the Commons
\nfollowing the official opening. If that vote is lost then it would
\nlead to no confidence in the PM.<\/p>\n
There are a lot of ifs and maybes involved but was is certain is
\nthat this is the most tumultuous King\u2019s Speech of the reign of
\nCharles III. On the eve of the May 13th State Opening, reports of
\npotential challenges to Sir Keir as leader of the Labour Party
\ncontinued to swirl with speculation mounting that Andy Burnham,
\nMayor of Greater Manchester, is looking for an opportunity to
\nreturn to the Commons as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
The leader of the Labour Party must be an MP. However, there is
\nno obligation for the Prime Minister to be an MP. The King asks the
\nperson most likely to be able to form a government to do just that.
\nAlthough it is unlikely that the Labour Party would accept anyone
\nleading a Labour government from the Lords, the possibility remains
\non the table.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, the full pomp and ceremony of the State Opening
\nof Parliament will unfold in its usual, traditional manner. The
\nImperial State Crown will be brought to the Palace of Westminster
\nand King Charles and Queen Camilla will arrive by carriage. It is
\nexpected The Queen will wear the State Diadem of George IV, an all
\ndiamond coronet featuring the symbols of the United Kingdom. The
\nKing will put on his Robe of State, made of crimson velvet and
\nermine, over his uniform and the Imperial State Crown will be
\nplaced on his head before he processes to the Throne. From there,
\nhe will read the speech written for him by the government.<\/p>\n
Another old tradition will be played out. An MP will be
\n\u2018kidnapped\u2019 and taken to a royal home for the duration of the State
\nOpening to ensure the safety of the Monarch. They are only released
\nonce The King has returned safely from parliament.<\/p>\n
Given the turmoil around him. Sir Keir may well be hoping he
\ngets asked to take on the job which King Charles has admitted has
\nbecome more popular as the recipient is provided with plenty to eat
\nand drink. The PM may well feel in need of tea and sympathy right
\nnow. Instead, he will find himself at the heart of one of the
\nstrangest State Openings of Parliament of all.<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source royalcentral.co.uk \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The King will head to Parliament today for the State Opening, even as Westminster is gripped by debate about whether Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, is on his way out of Downing Street. Intense pressure has built around Sir Keir in recent days, following a string of poor election results for his Labour party in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2414174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2414173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-royalty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/The-strangest-State-Opening-of-Parliament-in-decades-is-about.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2414173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2414173"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2414173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2414175,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2414173\/revisions\/2414175"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2414174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2414173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2414173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2414173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}