The Lord Mayor's Show is one of the best-known annual events in London as well as one of the longest-established, dating back to the 13th century.[1] A new lord mayor is appointed every year, and the public parade that takes place as their inauguration ceremony reflects that this was once one of the most prominent offices in England and subsequently the United Kingdom.
The show is named after the Lord Mayor of the City of London, a city and ceremonial county within Greater London and the historic centre of the wider metropolis. This is distinct from the Mayor of London, the elected head of the Greater London Authority (a position which has existed only since 2000). The City is London's main financial district, widely known informally as 'the Square Mile'.
The Lord Mayor's Show is centred on a street parade, which in its modern form is a light-hearted combination of traditional British pageantry and elements of carnival. On the day after being sworn in, the Lord Mayor and several others participate in a procession from Guildhall, via Mansion House and St Paul's Cathedral, in the heart of the City of London, to the Royal Courts of Justice on the edge of the City of Westminster, where the new Lord Mayor swears allegiance to the Crown. Until 1882, the procession went to Westminster Hall.[2]
- ^ Wickham, Early English Stages ii, pt 1, p.46
- ^ Weinreb, Ben; Hibbert, Christopher (1992). The London Encyclopaedia (reprint ed.). Macmillan. p. 498.