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State Opening of Parliament by Edward VII

Try to spot the King himself as a jostling crowd lines his route to the Palace of Westminster

Non-Fiction 1902 3 mins Silent

Overview

While this simple early newsreel consists of just a single shot, the subject is more than busy enough to hold your attention. A procession of carriages and the Household Cavalry round a bend in Westminster as they take Edward VII to officially open parliamentary business. Men, women, and children push to get to the barriers and give the new king a wave. He’d been crowned a year previously.

Queen Victoria had largely drifted away from the pomp and ceremony which attended the annual state opening of parliament, but this film makes it plain that Edward VII wasted little time in restoring it. Producer Cecil Hepworth was an important figure in early British cinema - and is believed to have authored the nation's first book on the subject. His company was often trusted to document royal events; they'd filmed Queen Victoria's funeral in 1901.

Genres

Non-Fiction

Country

United Kingdom

Language

No Dialogue with English subtitles

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