15 November 2010

The Lord Mayor's show

At the first glance it reminded the fairytale. The gold carriage, beautiful horses and king’s suit. However, this was the British reality. Londoners greeted the new Lord Mayor of the City.

 This event was conducted according to the best British traditions. I was lucky to be a witness of this spectacular show.

A crowd of people was around the St. Paul's Cathedral. However, the performance was worth of standing in the crush and waiting for some hours.

Sometimes the show was like a carnival or like a military parade. The Lord Mayor’s show is one of the most expensive and chaotic in style. Michael Bear was greeted by guardsmen, clowns, musical bands, and even locomotives.


The City is one of the richest areas of London. Without exaggeration, it is one of the world's financial centers.

The City has its own police, budget, schools and traditions. The most surprised thing that the City Mayor even has the right for refusing the Queen to entry this area.

This is, in fact, the kingdom in the kingdom. The Lord Mayor is like the monarch in his magnificence and scale of celebrations. He even comes to a parade in his honor in the luxurious golden carriage.

The history
The Mayor’s right to have so many privileges appeared almost 800 years ago. The King John allowed district residents to choose their own mayor. Each head of the City runs holds his post only for one year.

The mayor took over his hat about 100 times for several hours of the ceremony. He also was surrounded by a lot of Teddy-bears. Although, it was seemed that Mr. Bear was not upset.


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