COURT CIRCULAR

Buckingham Palace

The King and Queen, accompanied by the Governor-General of Canada (the Rt Hon Mary Simon) and Mr Whit Fraser, this morning drove in a Carriage Procession to the Senate of Canada Building, Ottawa, Ontario, to open the Session of Parliament.

Their Majesties were received at the Senate of Canada Building by the Prime Minister of Canada (the Rt Hon Mark Carney) and Mr Gregory Peters (Usher of the Black Rod).

The King was received with a Royal Salute and inspected the Guard of Honour.

Afterwards Their Majesties were received by the Speaker of the Senate (the Hon Raymonde Gagné), the Representative of the Government in the Senate (the Hon Marc Gold) and the Chief of the Defence Staff (General Jennie Carignan) before meeting the four Senate Leaders.

The King and Queen entered the Senate Chamber and met the Inuit Elder (the Reverend Canon Aigah Attagutsiak).

His Majesty was graciously pleased to address the House of Commons.

The King and Queen afterwards walked to the National War Memorial where His Majesty laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and Her Majesty laid a posy.

His Majesty subsequently received a Royal Salute and, with Her Majesty, witnessed a fly-past by the Royal Canadian Air Force.

The King and Queen later left Ottawa/Macdonald-Cartier International Airport, Ottawa, for the United Kingdom.

Their Majesties, attended by the Rt Hon Sir Clive Alderton, Mrs Muna Shamsuddin, Mr Tobyn Andreae, Mrs Colette Saunders, Miss Phoebe Goodwin, Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Thompson and Mrs Sophia Densham, arrived at Royal Air Force Brize Norton this evening.

St James’s Palace

The Princess Royal this morning visited MS QUEEN ANNE at Liverpool Cruise Terminal, Princes Parade, Liverpool, to mark Cunard’s One Hundred and Eighty-Fifth Anniversary and was received by His Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Merseyside (Mr Mark Blundell).

Her Royal Highness, Patron, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, this afternoon visited Royal Liverpool University Hospital, Mount Vernon Street, Liverpool and was received by Dr Ruth Hussey (Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Merseyside).

The Princess Royal, President, Riding for the Disabled Association, later visited Crosby Riding for the Disabled Group, Crosby Hall, Back Lane, Little Crosby, Liverpool, to mark its Fiftieth Anniversary.

Kensington Palace

The Duke of Gloucester, Grand Prior, the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, this afternoon held the Installation of Rear-Admiral Simon Williams as Prior of the Priory of England and the Islands at St John’s Gate, St John’s Lane, London EC1.