The Glimpse of Great Britain and Its Parliament Life

1. Great Britain or the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as the country is officially called ranks among the oldest constitutional monarchies in Europe. The country's first con­stitution, the Magna Charta, was signed under the pressure of her Parliament by the despotic King John Lackland, son of King Richard the Lion Hearted, as far back as June 10,1215. The Magna Charta had a great influence on the country's parliamentary life and traditions which have remained unchanged for centuries. Thus, the Palace of Westminster where Parliament is held and which was built anew and rebuilt for several times is in the same place for more than 1,000 years. Besides the Parliament consists of two Chambers or Houses - the Upper Chamber or the House of Lords and the lower Chamber or the House of Commons.

2. The Upper House consists of over 1,100 Members belonging to one of the three unequally represented groups of peers: 1. Heredi­tary Peers, Marquises, Earls, Viscounts, Barons (almost half of all peers), and Peeresses in their own right (ab 20); 2. Life Peers and Life Peeresses; 3. Archbishops (2) and Senior Bishops (20).

The House of Lords is headed by the Lord Chancellor who is also the minister of Justice and Head of the High Court.

3. The House of Commons consists of 659 elected MPs (1997 elections). The House is headed by the Speaker. The number of seats in the House, however, covers the need of only two-thirds of the elected MPs, the rest using the «front benches», the «cross benches» and the «back benches».

4. There are nine Royal British orders of Knighthood. The high­est of them is the order of the Garter, which was founded by King Edward III in 1348. It consists of two parts - a collar gold chain worn around the neck with St. George killing the Dragon, and an eight-pointed star with the words Honi soit qui таї у pense (in French) meaning: Shame on them who think badly. The order is conferred to the members of the Royal family and 25 knights. The only commoner to have received the order was Sir Winston Churchill in 1957. This

order gives the bearer the right to be buried in Westminster Abbey.

The next important order is that of the Bath established during the reign of Henry IV (1399-1413). The name of the order comes from the ceremony of bathing (the symbol of purity) before being given it. There are three different degrees of the order, the highest being the first: 1) G.C.B. (Grand Cross of the Bath); 2) K.C.B. (Knight Com­mander of the Bath), 3) C.B. (Commander of the Bath). The highest military award in Great Britain is the Victoria Cross instituted by Queen Victoria in 1856 to mark the victory in the Crimean War. It is a bronze Maltese Cross with a Lion in its centre and the inscription «For Val­our» under it. The cross is made from the metal of the Russian guns captured in Sevastopol during the Crimean War in 1855.

5. Several traditional ceremonies are held in the capital of Great Britain attracting the attention of many Londoners and their numerous domestic and foreign quests. One of them observed every day is the changing of the Household Guards quartered in the Chelsea and Wellington Barracks near the Buckingham Palace. The Brigade of Guards of the Queen (and the Royal family body-guards) consists of two regiments representing the nationalities of the United Kingdom. The English Grenadiers wear the bear skin caps twenty inches high. The Scots Guards wear a wide black ribbon on the back of their uniform colour 15 cm wide and 25 cm long.

All the Guards wear scarlet or red tunics and black trousers except the Scots Guards wearing their traditional regimental cloth. The Irish Guards wear a triple row of brass buttons and distinctive plumes. The second ceremonial event which can be seen at 11 a.m. every weekday and at 10 a.m. on Sundays is Mounting the Guard. In this ceremony the Household Cavalry (the Royal and Life Guards) take part. They wear breast and back shiny plates made of steel armour. The third ceremony is observed only once a year on the second Saturday in June at ab. 11.15 a.m. and is called Trooping the Colour. The ceremony marks the «official» birthday of the Queen and presents an inspection parade of the Queen's own troops. This spectacular ceremony with the Queen riding side-saddle on a highly trained horse ahead of the Guards is watched by many hundreds of people.

Among other old traditions the most prominent are the cer­emony of the Keys which is over 700 years old (since 1215 when King John was forced to sign the Magna Charta) and Lord Mayor's Show. The latter goes back to the mayoralty of Richard (Dick) Whittington, who was mayor four times (1396, 1397, 1406 and 1419). The Lord

Mayor rides from the City in a splendid six horses-spanned coach through the streets of London and stops at Law Courts where he is presented to the Lord Chief of Justice, who hands him his sword of office after receiving a solemn promise to carry out his duties faith­fully. The procession then continues to Westminster, and then returns to the Mansion House, the official residence of the Lord Mayor.