The Master meets a Royal Vintner
The Master meeting HM The Queen at Mansion House
This week their Majesties King Charles and Queen Camilla attended a reception and dinner to recognise the work of the City of London civic institutions and Livery Companies at Mansion House. Guests included the Master Vintner, Ant Fairbank, pictured above meeting HM The Queen who is also a Vintner.
This event is in fact a tradition dating back to 1689 to mark a new monarch's first visit to the City of London - the square mile established by the Romans as 'Londinium' in around 43 AD. Upon their arrival, King Charles participated in the Pearl Sword ceremony - representing the authority of the Lord Mayor in the City of London, where the King was presented with the Sword. King Charles then returned the Pearl Sword, confirming the Lord Mayor's authority when the monarch is not present. King Charles' mother, Queen Elizabeth, performed the ceremony in 1953 following her own coronation and again in 1977 and 2022 to mark important jubilees.
Before 1641, the monarch would take the Sword for the duration of their visit, but in 1641, King Charles I immediately returned it to the Lord Mayor, a practice that continued ever since. The custom of surrendering the Lord Mayor’s sword to the monarch was first recorded in 1392 when the Lord Mayor offered his sword to King Richard II. The Pearl Sword, adorned with over 2,600 pearls on the scabbard, is believed to have been first presented to the City by Queen Elizabeth I in 1571 for the opening of the Royal Exchange.
Inside the Mansion House, King Charles and Queen Camilla had the chance to view the Anointing Screen, which was gifted by the City of London Corporation and City Livery Companies, including the Vintners, for the most sacred moment of the coronation ceremony - the anointing.
In answer to The Queen's question to the Master asking after the Vintners' Company, the Master reassured her Majesty that the Company and its members were in fine form, and still drinking! Our hope is that we might have the fortune of The Queen gracing the Hall with a visit in the near future.