House of Commons
Parliament

Conservative MP Caroline Spelman kicks off proceedings by moving the loyal address to Her Majesty, external which thanks the monarch for the speech and is expected to be uncontentious and humourous.

The MP for Meriden begins by saying that when she was summoned to see the chief whip she thought, "What have I done?"

Her happiness at discovering the summons were for a good reason, she says, was tempered by her "angst at doing it well". 

Speaking about the importance of cross-party relationships in Parliament - Ms Spelman says that she had to explain cross-party fraternisation to her children.

"It's like when your friend supports Aston Villa and you support Coventry and you think he is misguided - but you are still friends."

House of Commons
Parliament

Speaker John Bercow is reminding MPs of the rules of the House and matters of decorum in the chamber - including reminding MPs that "every member should be heard courteously whatever their views".

Mr Bercow moves on to wish all members best wishes for the new Parliament and moves the Outlawries Bill.

House of Commons
Parliament

MPs are back in the chamber to begin six days of debate on the Queen's Speech.

After introductory statements by the Speaker, the Outlawries Bill will receive its first reading. This is a purely formal proceeding whereby the House asserts its right to deliberate on matters of its own choosing before those proposed by the government in the Queen’s Speech: no bill is produced nor is there any debate.

Debate on the Queen's Speech is then opened by two government backbenchers thanking the Queen for the speech, after which the Leader of the Opposition and the Prime Minister will speak.

Select Committee
Parliament

This afternoon the Culture, Media and Sport Committee is going to hear evidence on homophobia in sport.

During the last Parliament, the previous committee conducted an inquiry on Racism in Football. A key conclusion was that homophobia was emerging as a bigger problem than other forms of discrimination.

This committee will hear from Dr Mark McCormack of Durham University, Dr Jamie Cleland of Loughborough University and Professor Ian Rivers from the University of Strathclyde.

The committee will sit at 2:15pm and you can watch it online here, external.

The Queen has set out her government's plans for year ahead, in front of MPs and peers gathered at Westminster.

Age checks for porn sites and other technological proposals are laid out in the Queen's Speech.

Well, with the departure of the royalty to the other side of SW1, that brings to an end the ceremony of the State Opening of Parliament.

Join us in a while, when MPs return to debate the bills outlined in the Queen's Speech at 2.30pm.

A bill-by-bill guide to the proposed legislation in the 2016 Queen's Speech.

We are reminded that carriages do not pay the congestion charge in central London - as they are very fuel efficient.

Image source, bbc

The Imperial State Crown is taken out of Parliament.

The Queen and Prince Philip depart from the Palace of Westminster in the May rain to the sound of the national anthem.

Image source, bbc

The Queen and Prince Philip chat for a few moments with the leading members of the ceremony - Leaders of the Houses of Parliament and the defence staff.

The mace is put back in its place to represent the royal authority in Parliament - but MPs file out past it to return later this afternoon as the chamber is now suspended until then.