The Lord Mayor’s state coach is on display in the Guildhall

Ahead of this weekend’s Lord Mayor’s Show, the state coach the Lord Mayor will ride in can be seen in the City of London’s Guildhall.

The Lord Mayor of London’s State Coach is, along with the King’s Gold State Coach and the Speaker’s State Coach, one of the three great state coaches of the United Kingdom. Unlike the other two, which are rarely used (and the Speakers never now), the London one is used every year and has been ever since it was built in 1757.

As it happens, the Lord Mayor only gained a state coach thanks to an accident.

By tradition, the new Lord Mayor was expected to ride on horseback, but in 1710, the incumbent, Gilbert Heathcote, was unseated from his horse by a drunken flower girl, breaking his leg. For a while, the City hired a coach to replace the horse, but in 1757, the Lord Mayor elect, Sir Charles Asgill, persuaded the aldermen to finance the purchase of a “new Grand State Coach”. It was completed in time for his inauguration later that year and has been used ever since.

Ahead of the show, the State Coach is brought into the city and is kept in a specially built glass display area in the Guildhall building, where anyone can wander up for a close look.

It’s not immediately obvious, but the passage behind the glass doors is also open to the public, and you get a much better look at the carriage from in there. They also put out a few signs about the newly elected Lord Mayor and the coach, and show off a few bits from the coach driver’s equipment.

Do look closely at the decoration, which are allegories representing the power of the City. I also noticed, only for the first time, that the door handles are in the shape of fasces, a bundle of rods with an axe that was a symbol of civic power in ancient Rome.

On Saturday, the coach will be pulled by six horses, not because the coach is heavy, but to signify the rank of the occupant inside the coach. More horses means more rank.

As an aside, when King Charles III went to Westminster Abbey, his coach was also pulled by six horses on the way there, but to signify the King’s rank as an anointed monarch, the coach ride back to Buckingham Palace after the coronation used eight horses.

The King’s Gold State Coach is however, also very very heavy.

Back to the Lord Mayor, the City of London’s state coach will be on display in the Guildhall until Friday evening, after which it will be in preparation for the show itself on Saturday morning.

Attending the Lord Mayor’s Show

The parade is in two halves, with the second half often quieter for spectators. Wherever you stand, the procession will take just over an hour to march past. Throughout, the Lord Mayor, riding in the state coach, will also be regularly leaning out to wave his tricorn hat for the crowds.

A map of the route is here.

OUTWARD – Mansion House to Royal Courts of Justice

  • 10.45am – Lord Mayor travels from Guildhall to Mansion House
  • 11:00am – Two-minute silence for Armistice Day
  • 11.03am – Procession leaves Mansion House. Lord Mayor waves off the procession from Mansion House balcony
  • 11.30am – Head of procession reaches Royal Courts of Justice
  • 12.10pm – Lord Mayor leaves Mansion House to join the procession
  • 12.20pm – Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress arrive at St Paul’s Cathedral to be blessed by the Dean
  • 12.40pm – Lord Mayor arrives at Royal Courts of Justice, to swear oath of allegiance before the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales and Master of the Rolls

RETURN – Royal Courts of Justice to Mansion House

  • 1.10pm – Head of procession sets off from Victoria Embankment
  • 1.35pm – Head of the procession arrives back at Mansion House
  • 2.10pm – Lord Mayor rejoins procession at Royal Courts of Justice
  • 2.40pm – Lord Mayor arrives back at Mansion House and is greeted by City Aldermen and livery company Masters