Tomorrow is the State Opening of Parliament. This is a familiar ceremonial occasion in the UK, but for much of the 20th century the Monarch & other Royals also routinely opened legislatures in other realms, states & territories. Here’s a 🧵 on some of the most notable 1/11 The first outside the UK took place in May 1901 when the Duke of Cornwall and York (the future King George V) opened the first Parliament of the (new) Commonwealth of Australia in Melbourne. This formed part of an extensive Imperial tour (pic: RCT) 2/11

Yesterday evening, Mark Drakeford, First Minister of Wales since 2018, submitted his resignation to the King... A 🧵on the Monarch and the devolved First Ministers His resignation will be effective as soon as Llywydd (the Presiding Officer) informs the Senedd of the King’s acceptance. This means there’s a vacancy which is filled by Members of the Senedd voting on a “nominee” (under sections 46 & 47 of the Government of Wales Act 2006)

First outing I think for the new Lord Great Chamberlain - the office rotates between 3 families (wikipedia has a superb chart) at the beginning of a new reign. The new incumbent is the 7th Baron Carrington, whose late father served as Foreign Secretary under Margaret Thatcher...

https://twitter.com/RoyalCentral/status/1569253080168034308

Here’s the Wikipedia chart showing the three families’ share of the office

Most of today’s events are, to varying degrees, unprecedented🧵 1/5 At 10:00 The King will receive Addresses of condolence & loyalty from both Houses of Parl’t. This is normal following a Demise, but usually delegations of MPs/peers wd present these to the monarch privately. Today both Houses as a whole will do so publicly in Westminster Hall 2/5

Following the Principal Proclamation at St James’s Palace yesterday, today will see a “cascade” of further Proclamations, the most prominent of which will occur in Edinburgh, Belfast and Cardiff – all at 12 noon. There will be changes to all 3 compared with February 1952 🧵 1/5 In Edinburgh, Lord Lyon King of Arms will make a Proclamation “to the people of Scotland” at 12:00 at Mercat Cross, followed by another “to the people of Edinburgh” at the Castle Drawbridge at 12:30. In 1952 there were another two, at Holyroodhouse and at the Shore of Leith 2/5

Today the Accession Council will meet formally to proclaim King Charles III. There is no explicit statutory basis for it to do so, but by custom it proclaims the King & approves various “Orders of Council” for its public dissemination. Not all Privy Counsellors need attend 1/5 The Accession Council is divided into 2 parts. The Lord President (in this case “Acting” LP) presides over Part I, at which the Clerk of the Privy Council reads the Proclamation aloud. Those present then sign parchment scrolls, tho these signatures have no legal significance 2/5

100 years ago today the Ulster Unionist MP Sir Henry Wilson unveiled this WWI memorial at Liverpool St Station in London. He’d been elected in the North Down by-election of February 1922 and was also acting as “security advisor” to the devolved Government of Northern Ireland 1/4 After the memorial unveiling, Sir Henry returned to his home at 36 Eaton Square where he was shot dead by two London-based members of the IRA. This was one of the events which led to the Irish Civil War of 1922-23 2/4

Today is the centenary of the political entity known as "Northern Ireland". Here is a new @commonslibrary briefing paper from me on the origins and development of the Northern Ireland border or “boundary”, which is also 100 years old: commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-brief… THREAD 1/15 The idea of “partitioning” Ireland is generally attributed to Liberal MP Thomas Agar-Robartes, who proposed excluding four Ulster counties from the Third Home Rule Bill in June 1912. Although rejected at the time, by 1917 "partition" was the centrepiece of UK policy 2/15