State Opening of the NZ Parliament

Yesterday was the State Opening of the New Zealand Parliament, with a whole lot of pomp and circumstance. This post includes the significant videos from the ceremonies, arranged in chronological order, unlike the way they appear on Parliament’s YouTube Channel video listings. These videos are different from the Commission Opening videos I shared the other day in that they’re mostly narrated to explain what’s going on. One note about that: The captions always get Māori words and phrases wrong or leave them out altogether.

Arrival of the Governor General and Mana Whenua Greeting




Inspection of the Royal Tri-Service Guards of Honour


This video is of the arrival of the Governor General of New Zealand, and her inspection of the Royal Honour Guard representing the three branches of the NZ Defence Force (Navy, Army, and Air Force). I noted that the NZ Army brass players playing the fanfare all had sheet music. A very wise move, I thought: You wouldn’t want a nervous person to mess up the whole thing. Also, the New Zealand National Anthem was played a galloping clip, I thought—much less dirge-like than it normally is. Maybe that was because no one had to sing along?

There’s also a half-hour long video of the various dignitaries arriving [WATCH], as well as a video of the arrival of the Governor General is also available [WATCH]. They’re not actually part of the ceremonies as such, and the video of the arrival of the Governor General is quite short, so I’m not including the actual videos.

Members of the House proceed to the Legislative Council Chamber


In this video, the Acting Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod is sent to summon the Members of the House of Representatives. The narrator explains all of the significance, but I felt sorry for the guy for messing up the summons.


This video begins where the last one left off, with the Gentleman Usher of the Black Rod summoning the Members of Parliament to the Legislative Council Chamber, which was originally the debating chamber of New Zealand’s now abolished upper house of Parliament, the Legislative Council.

Speech From The Throne


The Speech From The Throne is written by the Government, and sets out the goals and agenda of that Government. The Governor General delivers the speech as the representative of the Queen of New Zealand, Elizabeth II.

Members of the House proceed from the Legislative Council Chamber


This video is about the end the events of the day. Again, the narration describes what’s going on until the video resumes covering House business. From there, among other things, the House began the Address in Reply, which includes Maiden Speeches from new Members of Parliament. Those aren’t part of the State Opening as such, but they’re available to watch on Parliament’s YouTube Channel.

And that’s it for another three years.

Related:
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