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The Queen is required to head to the House of Lords to mark the State Opening of Parliament during which she traditionally delivers the Queen’s Speech outlining the new Government’s for the country. The visit usually takes place after a general election every five years or after a prorogation of Parliament, with 2019 becoming the first time in the 21st century Her Majesty had to deliver two of her speeches from the Lords within months of each other. And plans to have all peers move from their Westminster chamber up to York in a bid to decentralise the Government could force the Queen to commute to Yorkshire to present her speech every year.

Speaking to Times Radio, reporter and Lords expert Esther Webber said: “It’s not quite as simple as saying, ’we’ll repurpose a leisure centre,’ or something like that.

“There are ceremonial things that are specific to the building and the location.

“So, for example, for State Opening the Queen can’t actually go to the Commons so she gives her speech in the Lords.

“Does that mean we will see the Queen going up to York? Will they build a new throne for her there?”

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The Queen has been banned from the House of Commons as have all monarchs before her since 1642, when Charles I attempted to arrest five sitting MPs for criticising him.

The Speaker of the House politely rebuked attempts from the King to find out where the parliamentarians had run off to and Charles I was forced to leave the chamber.

Since then, no monarch has been able to enter the Commons to ensure MPs maintained their independence from the influence of the sovereign.

Her Majesty has kept up with royal tradition and only ever sets foot in the House of Lords, calling on MPs to move from their chamber to the peers’ to listen to her State Opening speech.

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The Queen has delivered the speech every years since taking over the throne in 1952 except for 1959 and 1963 as she was heavily pregnant with her two youngest sons, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward.

She passed on her duties to the Lord Commissioners on both occasions and had the Lord Chacellor read her speech.

The State Opening Speech was only cancelled four times since 1915, including in 2011 and 2018 under David Cameron and Theresa May respectively.

Through the years several changes have shortened both the procession the Queen undertakes as she heads to Parliament and the ceremony itself.

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Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh traditionally escorted the Queen to the House of Lords but has relinquished his duties after retiring from public life in 2017.

Prince Charles has since accompanied Her Majesty to Westminster on both 2019 speeches. But despite the shortened ceremony, the Prince of Wales still appeared to fall asleep when he returned to the Lords in December.

A well-placed mention from the Queen of one of Charles’ favourite topics, the environment, appeared to wake him up and he remained attentive for the rest of Her Majesty’s speech.

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