I believe it can be argued that the peers attended the coronation as members of the House of Lords. Nowadays, most hereditary peers are not members of the House of Lords, and I suspect only those who are may be invited. However, with 2000 guests, not all members of the Houses of Parliament can be invited, so they will have to make a selection. There are many other officials who would be more logical to invite to the coronation as representatives of the country: elected MPs, senior government officials, diplomats, Mayors and Lord-Lieutenants from around the country, civic and religious leaders etc.
Looking at some of the old footage of the late Queen's coronation, one sees quite a few peers standing in rows near the throne, in addition to those who have an actual role (e.g., Norfolk). If there is a scaling back of the overall ceremony, do you think this large presence of peers will be one category to reduce in presence? If that reduction reaches a relatively low number of each rank - duke, marquess, earl, viscount, baron - then my question becomes: what will be the method to retain some peers of each rank? Will it be by how old the title is, or will it be some other method? After all, peerages created in the kingdoms of England and Scotland would be the most ancient, whereas peers created in the United Kingdom would of course be of more recent lineage.
412
Message Thread
« Back to index