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Friday 20 November 2009

Your Carriage Awaits Sir

As promised here is more from the Lord Mayor's parade last weekend.
The newly elected Lord Mayor is swearing his allegiance to the Queen before the Lord Chief Justice before popping back in his carriage back to Mansion House.

The first few hundred years the Lord Mayor would have ridden his horse here. That was until in 1711 Sir Gilbert Heathcote broke his leg. So a coach and horses was hired for the next couple of years, until 1757 when the golden gilded coach you see here was commissioned.

If you missed the parade you can still get to see this beautiful ornate carriage in the Museum of London

16 comments:

Babzy.B said...

Wow ! Where is Cinderella ?

Karine said...

That's a pretty impressive coach! I'll bet it weighs a ton and by the looks of it, doesn't make for a very smooth ride either, though! Next time maybe you can get the shot of the Queen riding in one! Have you ever seen her?

Kate said...

Wow! What else can one say about this carriage? It seems almost surreal that an object of such opulence is still being used today!

Hilda said...

How wonderful! It looks like a carriage straight out of a fairy tale! But I guess it's really the other way around, huh?

Tammy said...

Wow how beautiful! It's so incredible that it's still being used today.

Anna said...

Wow. Wow. Nothing else to say but wow.

Lucy Corrander said...

Did Boris turn into a pumpkin?

Lucy

marley said...

Talk about a pimped ride!

jennyfreckles said...

It is stunning, isn't it? It's one of the things that makes me so glad to be British, that we hang on to these wonderful old customs. The Royal Courts of Justice building in the background is a famous frontage - seen so many times on the TV news.

menopausaloldbag (MOB) said...

My uncle was Lord Mayor of Glasgow but he had nothing so ornate to travel around in! We used the offocial cars such as the Daimler and the Rolls Royce and I tried my damndest to hide between them as they waved to the crowds! I could have hidden away more in a carriage like that and bumpy as it might have been, I would have loved a trot out in that.

Mara said...

Is it going to be changing back to a pumpkin at the stroke of midnight?

Rustan said...

Great Mo! But i´m not so fancy about the royalties, anyway, have you see the swizz clock at Leicester Square? It rings in the bell every day at 12 a´clock! Cheers!

Sharon said...

On one of my trips to London I toured the Royal Mews and got to see many coaches like this one. It is quite unbelievable how gilded and ornate they truly are. This one is amazing.

Cheryl G. said...

That's amazing! It IS 2009, right?

Amy said...

very nice, hard to believe people rode in that, it seems so...gold!

A Daft Scots Lass said...

Imagine taking a ride in that carriage. You must feel like royalty...erm well...nevermind...

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