Queen Elizabeth II opening Parliament today. Awesome.

I just watched the Queen going up to Parliament for her speech to both the House of Lords and the House of Commons. I was fascinated by the Queen's person arriving at the House of Commons and getting the door slammed in his face, his beating on it to get admitted, and requesting the presence of that House to attend the Queen's audience. It was something to see the Prime Minister (Blair) having to stand at the back of the House of Lords' chamber with all others from the Commons. Hearing the speech the Queen gave, announcing what "my government" is going to proposed was interesting, even knowing that she didn't write the speech. Also, the keeping of a "hostage" from Parliament by the Queen only to be delivered back to Parliament once the Queen is back safely in her residence is a great tradition. Something tells me that the "hostage" and the Queen probably had a nice cup of tea and a little chin wag about the ceremony/speech before the "hostage" was return. At least, I'd like to think they did.

What I did find out today was that, even though the Queen has lost the majority of any power to govern, she signs the proposals by Parliament that makes them the law of the land. That I didn't know. So from this information, I am going to assume that if the Queen doesn't sign off, it doesn't become law. Interesting. She also can express her disapproval of proposals in private to the Prime Minister (and such), not that he needs to take note. This all surprised me. I thought the Queen was just a figurehead.

Anyway, as an American, perhaps I'm suppose to find this a bit much, but I think it's grand. And I hope it continues long into the future. I hope that every child in the UK has a chance to observe this tradition. It's living history. And if, nothing else, it's pretty awesome to watch.