A State Opening of the Parliament of the United Kingdom took place on 17 July 2024 when King Charles III opened the first session of the Parliament elected in 2024, which was the first after the 2024
King Charles III and Queen Camilla sitting in the House of Lords
The King proceeds through the royal gallery
The King and Queen enthroned.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer Official Portrait
Hereditary peer
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The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of October 2025, there were 799 hereditary peers: 29 dukes, 34 marquesses, 189 earls, 108 viscounts, and 439 barons.
The House of Lords, sitting in its old chamber, burned down in 1834, as drawn by Augustus Pugin and Thomas Rowlandson for Rudolph Ackermann's Microcosm of London, 1808–1811
Letters patent granting the Dukedom of Marlborough to Sir John Churchill were later amended by Parliament.
In 1984 Harold Macmillan, a former prime minister, was the last non-royal recipient of a hereditary peerage, the Earldom of Stockton.
Matt Ridley, science writer and conservative journalist, is the Viscount Ridley.