This has been a busy week for state ceremony, yet you wouldn’t know it from the news.

Friday 1st October was the beginning of the legal year 2021-22 in England & Wales, marked by the procession of hundreds of judges in their full dress uniform to a special service at Westminster Abbey. This included readings by the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice, as well as a sermon by the preacher of Lincoln’s Inn.

The legal year in Scotland began on Monday 27th September. It featured similar events at the Court of Session and St Giles’s Cathedral. The Lyon Court was one of the bodies involved and a number of new officers of arms had their inaugurations.

On Saturday 2nd October the sixth devolved Scottish Parliament had its ceremonial opening, though of course it has been sitting and legislating since May.  The Queen visited the chamber, accompanied by the Duke & Duchess of Rothesay and Edinburgh. Many heralds were in attendance carrying with them the crown of James V.

It is a little disappointing that these events were so ill-publicised, even accounting for the distraction of party conferences and fuel queues. Rather than major newspapers I have mostly had to piece together details of all three ceremonies from the websites and social media accounts of the people involved.

Curiously this is not consistent across time – footage of judges’ processions from a few years ago can be found on YouTube, and some from many decades back are archived by British Pathé.

EXTERNAL LINKS

Judges at Westminster Abbey

• The abbey’s website
• The abbey’s Twitter feed
• The abbey’s Facebook page
• The abbey on Instagram
• The Supreme Court’s Twitter feed
• The Supreme Court on Instagram
• The Ministry of Justice’s Twitter feed
• The Ministry of Justice’s Facebook page
• The Ministry of Justice on Instagram
• Antonia Romeo (Clerk of the Crown)’s Twitter feed
• Dominic Raab (Lord Chancellor)’s Twitter feed

Heralds at the Court of Session

• The Scottish judiciary’s website
• The Lyon Court’s blog
• The Lyon Court’s Twitter feed
• The Heraldry Society of Scotland’s blog

The Scottish Parliament

• The Lyon Court’s blog
• The Lyon Court’s Twitter feed
• The Heraldry Society of Scotland’s blog
• The Parliament’s YouTube channel