Ok….so, it’s been awhile. I know that. You know that. My wife certainly knows that as she frequently reminds me that I need to blog. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy to find interesting things to talk about anymore. While we continually are reminded of our love for this country, I acknowledge that it’s not terribly riveting for all of you if I describe my awe on seeing the same castle for the 40th time. However, I could do better as we have seen some interesting things this year and will continue. If enough people are still reading this blog, I’ll keep going.

This week, we got a truly unique experience in our time here. When we moved to Godalming, we were told that a member of our congregation was a Baroness, meaning that she’s a member of the House of Lords, the upper house of the UK Parliament. Naturally, this intimidated the hell out of me, but she turned out to be the most wonderfully kind and humble person.

First, a bit of background for the non-Brits. As you might remember from high school civics class, Parliament is the legislative branch of the UK government, roughly the same as Congress in the United States. And like the US Congress, Parliament is split into two houses: the House of Commons, made up of 650 elected members that represent boroughs around the country, and the House of Lords, traditionally the house of the Nobility.

You might notice the emphasis on the word “traditionally” in the previous paragraph. That’s because the nature of the House of Lords (or House of Peers) has changed over the centuries. It originally developed out of the Magna Carta, when the Lords of England demanded some checks and balances on King John in 1215. It remained the house of inherited nobility until 1999, when reform under the Labour Party “expelled” (not as harsh as it sounds) all but 92 hereditary peers. They were replaced with Life Peers, people who were nominated by their party to take a place in the House for life (or retirement), but the title would not pass on to their children like the hereditary nobility. I’m a little fuzzy on how and when new peers are brought in. I THINK that’s a function of the Prime Minister and the House of Commons, but when a new “class” is brought in, the numbers are divided between the political parties, who then name their own peers.

Their power is extremely limited compared to the House of Commons or the US Senate. Legislation cannot start in the House of Lords, nor can it “die” there. Their function is to scrutinise bills passed by the Commons, proposing amendments, intentionally slowing down bills and forcing the Commons to carefully consider, or even reconsider, their decisions.

What makes these peers so unique, and so valuable in my opinion, is that they tend not to be “career politicians”. While they have naturally been active in their political parties, they are largely chosen by merit of their accomplishments in various fields. For instance, someone who has spent their career working for RSPCA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) might be asked to join the Lords for the contributions they can make toward Conservation. While no system is perfect, this has lead to an upper house full of “experts” in various fields rather than simply a popularity contest like the United States Senate. Any resident of the UK has the right to petition the Lords, so no matter what your issue, you are likely to find someone who is knowledgable and passionate about it in the House of Lords.

Hmmm….maybe that was a bit more background than necessary, but it was fun to write. Back to the point of this post. A few months back, our parishioner invited us to a day of tours in the Parliament and the House of Lords. Naturally, we jumped at the chance as this included not just the normal public tour, but a private tour by the Baroness in the less-known sections. No way we were going to pass this up. It took a few months of planning to get the right day, but this Wednesday we finally got to take our tour and it. was. amazing. Unfortunately, photography isn’t allowed in most of the building, so I don’t have a lot of pictures, but I’ll share what we have.

We began the day with the typical tour that many residents and tourists get. A trip through the 1,000 year old Hall of Westminster, built for the son of William the Conquerer as a banqueting hall, and the site where Kings and Queens have laid in state before burial. If you watched the recent vigil for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, this is where her coffin lay for days of solid procession by the people of the UK.

We then proceeded through the House of Commons, which has been on the news frequently lately, so I’m sure you’ve all seen that, then on to the House of Lords. We had the luck (either good or bad) of being there on the first day the new Prime Minister was going to face the Commons, so it was a bit of a whirlwind tour, although the energy was quite high.

We then had some time to kill so we had lunch at the same pub we ate in our first night living in the country. We couldn’t get the same seat, but it was a nice reminder of how far we’ve come in the last four years. We then wandered up to Piccadilly Circus and Chinatown, people watching our way through the next hour or so.

Finally, it was time for the main event. We bussed back to the Palace of Westminster and this time headed for the Peers Entrance, the door reserved for Peers and their guests. The Baroness met us there and led us to the House of Lords itself where we got to watch the House in session. We sat up in a tiny balcony called the Peeresses Gallery as it was where the wives of the Lords used to sit and watch while their husbands debated below. I won’t pretend that we understood most of what was going on, but it was fascinating to see the work of the House in person rather than through a television screen. We even got lucky as we were told the Peers got a little more “rambunctious” than usual, shouting down a few members that were using more than their allowed time.

After the main session, we went to tea (English Breakfast and teacakes with butter and jam) in one of the Lord’s Dining Rooms, which is just as fancy as it sounds, before getting a behind the scenes tour of stuff that’s not on the normal tour.

Now, I want to be clear that we were not VIPs. I’m not putting on airs. Most of what we did was available to any UK resident that contacts their MP or local Peer. I’m sure there are hundreds, or even thousands, of Brits every year that take advantage of this. But to us yokels from Southern Indiana? Pure magic. We will definitely do the public tour again soon, and maybe, if we minded our manners, we’ll get invited back for the rest at some point in the years to come.