THE QUEEN AND THE DUKE OF YORK WILL VISIT THE HONOURABLE SOCIETY OF LINCOLN’S INN
Thursday 13th December 2018
Her Majesty The Queen, accompanied by His Royal Highness The Duke of York, will visit The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn on 13th December 2018 to officially open the new Ashworth Centre, and re-open the recently renovated Great Hall.
The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn is a Society for lawyers which houses a number of barristers’ chambers and solicitors’ offices. Lincoln’s Inn itself has a long history and holds the earliest records of any of the four Inns of Court dating from 1422.
The Queen will arrive with The Duke of York – Royal Bencher of the Inn – and be welcomed into the Ashworth Centre, a new teaching facility for students and newly qualified barristers attached to the Inn. Her Majesty and His Royal Highness will meet people involved in the building’s construction as well as students, scholars and staff from the Education department. The Queen will unveil an inscription to mark the official opening of the new facility.
The Royal Party will then move to the top of the Ceremonial Steps to mark the re-opening of the Great Hall before moving inside to view a painting of Queen Victoria opening the Great Hall in 1845 and a portrait of Princess Margaret. In the Great Hall, Her Majesty and His Royal Highness will meet tutors, Education Committee members, Past Treasurers, Senior Benchers and key members of the Inn’s staff.
The Queen will unveil a plaque to re-open the Great Hall, after which both Her Majesty and His Royal Highness will sign the Golden Book, a visitor’s book previously signed by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The Queen and The Duke of York will be shown one of the Library’s legal manuscripts, an illuminated and elaborately decorated volume of statutes from 1239 to 1451, as well as a small collection of silver, with a Royal provenance.
Built in 1845, the Great Hall is the physical and symbolic centrepiece of the Inn and was opened by Queen Victoria on 30th October 1845. In celebration of the 100th anniversary, Queen Mary planted a walnut tree in the North Lawn in 1945. Her Majesty last visited the Inn in 1967. The Duke of York first visited in 2012 when introduced as a Royal Bencher, and again in 2015.
The Inn has two Royal Benchers, HRH The Duke of York (2012) and HRH The Duke of Kent (2002).
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