14 October 2009
The Lord Mayor's Show in numbers
Dating back to 1215, the Lord Mayor’s inaugural
outing is now an established highlight in London’s social calendar
- on Saturday 14 November the 682nd Lord
Mayor of the City of London will travel from Mansion House
to the Royal Courts of Justice and back again as part of the Lord
Mayor’s Show.
In 2008, the procession attracted 450,000
people from all across London, the UK and indeed the world, whilst
the UK television audience numbered nearly 2
million viewers. The show’s organisers
are confident of surpassing these figures in 2009.
In a spectacular flypast, two Typhoon fighter
jets and one C17 transport aircraft
provided by RAF Cranwell will speed over Mansion
House at 11.05 am to mark the official start of
the parade’s 1.2 mile outward journey.
Floats from the 63 participating organisations
comprising 122 motorised vehicles, 149
horses and 23 bands will then travel from
Mansion House to St Paul’s Cathedral where the Lord Mayor will be
blessed by the Dean of St Paul’s. They will then move on to the
Royal Courts of Justice for the Royal Oath during which the Lord
Mayor will swear his allegiance to The Queen before the Lord Chief
Justice and Judges of the Queen’s Bench Division.
More than 6,000 people, including
representatives from as far away as Gibraltar and Hong Kong, will
come together to form a procession measuring 2.9
miles in length to celebrate the City’s proud cultural
heritage and to revel in its diverse modernity.
In keeping with tradition, and following the recent
commemorative service held at St Paul's Cathedral to mark the
cessation of combat operations in Iraq, the armed forces will again
play a significant role in the Show. In addition to the RAF
flypast, 25 military units will be represented,
bringing with them 11 military bands and
60 military horses.
Behind all of this pageantry comes the Lord Mayor, travelling in
his 252 year old State Coach and accompanied on
his journey by his Chaplain, the Sword Bearer and the Common Cryer
and Serjeant-at-Arms. The instantly recognisable, gold-plated Lord
Mayor’s State Coach weighs in at nearly 3 tonnes
and is by far the most famous of the 18 carriages
taking part in this year’s Show.
The return journey will set off at 1pm along
Victoria Embankment and proceed to Mansion House, where the newly
sworn-in Lord Mayor arrives to be greeted by the City Aldermen and
livery company Masters in their colourful gowns.
The day culminates in a breath-taking fireworks extravaganza,
launched from a barge moored between Waterloo and Blackfriars
Bridges on the Thames from 5pm.
Ends
James Abbott
Press Officer
City of London Corporation
PO Box 270
Guildhall
London
EC2P 2EJ
Tel 020 7332 1754
Mob 07831 543 188
Email
james.abbott@cityoflondon.gov.uk