The King's Speech

King Charles will read a speech about the Government’s plans for what laws they want to pass in the next year.

This usually happens once a year. 

King Charles will travel from Buckingham Palace to the House of Lords. 

He will sit on a special chair called a throne. 

After the King comes into the House of Lords a person called Black Rod goes to the House of Commons to ask the Members of Parliament to come and listen to the King’s Speech.   

Black Rod is the person who is in charge of security for the House of Lords. They get their name from the long black stick they hold.  

They walk from the House of Lords to the House of Commons. The door to the House of Commons will be shut in their face.  

They need to use the long black stick to knock on the doors to get the Members of Parliament to follow them to the House of Lords to hear the King's Speech.   

The speech is written by the Government and normally lasts for 10 minutes.

After the King’s Speech is read, Members of Parliament go back to the House of Commons to start talking about what was in the King’s Speech. 

An MP will speak first and then the Leader of the Opposition will get a chance to speak about the new plans. 

Then the Prime Minister will go through the new Government’s plans.  

Then other MP’s will get a chance to speak about the plans in the speech

MPs will talk about the plans for 5 days, with each day having a different topic. 

When the MPs finish talking about the King's Speech there is a vote on the plans.

The Government usually wins the vote.