this is the procession that brings the
crown and the cap of maintenance and the
sword of state to the Palace of
Westminster those three great symbols of
royal authority company by the crown
jeweler and other senior officers and
this will make its way into the
sovereigns entrance when they are using
the Queen Alexandra State coach today
which was built originally in 1865 so
the regalia by the way coming from the
palace today of course most of it kept
at the Tower of London but to transfer
to the palace overnight and then we will
see the regalia being transferred now at
the foot of the Victoria Tower ready for
it to be taken into the regalia room at
the foot of the tower and then up into
the Royal gallery where it'll be put on
display so let's see the arrival here
an interesting feature here is that the
state ceremonies feature the Queen's
barge master and the Queen's Waterman in
the role of the footman there they are
and they are a reminder that in days
gone by the crown jewels will be brought
down to Westminster by River because
that was a rather safer route and coming
down from Westminster by Road
we have several new faces in the
ceremony today including the new
controller of the Lord Chamberlain's
office in the in the palace in
Buckingham Palace
Michael Vernon Lieutenant Colonel
Michael Vernon with a long distinguished
military career is now in this post took
over from Andrew Ford so he's waiting
there just at the foot of the stairs and
the crown jeweler will bring out the
Imperial state crown with its 3,000
gemstones only seen at coronations and
at state openings of parliament so it's
a rare sight michael vernon in his first
state opening ready to take the crown
into the regalia room where it'll be
placed on a different kind of cushion to
be taken up to the Royal gallery to be
put on display there until the Queen's
arrival
I mentioned too that that is just one of
three symbols of royal authority that we
will see today the other two which will
also be put on display in the Royal
gallery are the cap of maintenance as
it's called and the sword of state sort
of state which dates from 1685 and the
coronation of james ii in just about
cioth there and then to the right of the
sword of state as we'll see the
procession going into the stairs there
we can see the cap of maintenance the
crimson velvet of the omen all symbols
of the Monarchs power so just a few
minutes inside there to get things nice
and neat and ready to make sure that
everything is pristine before it is
brought into the Royal gallery so