26 NOVEMBER 2003
Just days after the pomp and circumstance during the state visit of US President George W Bush came to an end, London once again found itself awash in ceremony on Wednesday as the Queen made her annual address marking the state opening of parliament.

The monarch and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh arrived by horse drawn carriage to the House of Lords, where Her Majesty presented the Queen's Speech, which lays out the legislative agenda for the year ahead.

Among the nearly two dozen bills unveiled by the Queen were plans to abolish the remaining 92 hereditary peers in the House of Lords, legislation preventing convicted criminals from sitting in the Lords and the Higher Education Bill governing the charging of university fees.