LONDON

AND TRADITIONS
No city does pomp and pageantry like London. As the Lord Mayor’s
Show – a grand procession now in its 800th year – is watched by
millions, make sure you’re one of them, writes Sarah Riches
Agolden carriage sounds like
something you would find in a
fairytale, but during the Lord Mayor’s
Show, a 258-year-old gilded carriage
is just one of the many sights to behold.
The annual show began in 1215, under
King John. At the time, rising taxes and
losing a war with France had made the king
unpopular, so to win back the support of his
people he agreed to allow the City of London
to elect its own mayor. There was just one
condition – every year the newly elected
mayor had to leave the safety of the City,
travel up the River Thames to the Palace of
Westminster and swear loyalty to the crown.
This journey was originally taken along the
Thames; later it was made on horseback until
the Lord Mayor fell off his horse in 1420 and
broke his leg – a hired carriage was used after
that. The current state coach is on display at the
Museum of London when it is not being used.
Over the centuries, crowds watched and the
ritual turned into a rowdy festival – and by the
1500s it was known as the Lord Mayor’s Show.
Beatrice Behlen, a curator at the Museum of
London, says: ‘The Lord Mayor’s Coach has
London hasn’t missed
hosting the annual Lord
Mayor’s Show since 1852,
when it made way for
the Duke of Wellington’s
funeral procession
CHANGING THE GUARD CEREMONY AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE © VISIT BRITAIN/PAWEL LIBERA
8 | LONDON PLANNER