The State opening of Parliament in London is a frankly bizarre hotchpotch of political manifesto and century-old tradition, made even more odd this year by the knife-edge state of British politics. French journalist Sonia Stolper, the UK and Ireland correspondent of French newspaper Libération, was given the unenviable task to attempting to explain the whole things to her audience back in France. The Queen travels by coach to parliament and back. In addition to all the pageantry, the State opening of parliament does have an actual political purpose - it's when the Queen spells out the agenda of the ruling political party for the next parliamentary session. Il était suspendu, légalement cette fois, avant le Queen Speech prononcé ce matin — soniastolper (@soniastolper) October 14, 20191.

Source: The Local October 15, 2019 09:00 UTC