THROUGH THE ARCHIVES: From the News Letter of October 1955

In lofty Westminster Hall, “where so much history had been made”, 1,706 guests assembled this week in October 1955, for the King’s speech when “one more chapter was added to the story of the Mother of Parliaments”.

In the presence of representatives of the parliaments and legislatures of 29 Commonwealth countries, the King received from the Lord Chancellor and the Speaker the addresses voted by the Lords and Commons to mark the opening of the new Commons Chamber, which had been rebuilt after its destruction by German bombs on the night of May 10, 1941.

Earlier MPs had entered the new chamber through “the battered and fire damaged” Churchill arch, which was to commemorate Britain’s great war leader.

The King’s speech

Usually when the King addressed Parliament at a state opening he remained seated, but in October 1955 he stood “and made his speech in a clear, strong voice”.

He said: “I am happy to welcome the speakers of the legislatures throughout the British Commonwealth.

“Their presence makes this symbolic occasion of untold value.

“Of all the bonds which unite my peoples, none is stronger than our common devotion to the ideals of freedom, justice and toleration which, in the political sphere, find their supreme expression in our parliamentary system.”

The King continued: “Although my peoples vary in race and language and tradition, the spirit of our parliamentary system permeates every legislative assembly in the Commonwealth.”

Reflecting on the new chamber, the King said: “This new chamber will stand as a sign to the world of our faith in freedom, our confidence in the permanence of our common ideals and of the ties, flexible yet firm, which hold together the peoples of our Commonwealth and unite in brotherhood the freedom-loving peoples of all nations.”