MP taken hostage at State Opening of Parliament until King Charles is returned to Buckingham Palace
ok.co.ukParliamentary traditions can be strange, but did you know an MP is taken 'hostage' every time the King visits - and the same will happen today as the State Opening of Parliament gets underway.
It might sound dramatic, but it's just a tradition with historical roots. While the King is in Parliament, an MP, usually a Vice-Chamberlain of the Household, stays at Buckingham Palace until he returns.
This dates back to the 1600s, when relations between Parliament and the Royal Family were slightly more strained, following Guy Fawkes' failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605 where he and his supporters planned to blow up the Palace of Westminster when King James I arrived.
The tradition is in place so that the King can be safely returned to the palace.The Parliament website even calls it a "reminder of the violence and intrigue historically surrounding relationships between the commons and the Crown." This all stems from the rather tumultuous reign of Charles I.
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