Lord mayor is the honorary title given the chairman of certain borough councils in the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom, a borough is a district that elects a member to Parliament. Local government districts that have received their borough status by royal charter have lord mayors. The monarch may also designate these districts as cities. For this reason, some British cities and boroughs have elected lord mayors.
The work of the lord mayor does not differ from that of an ordinary mayor. Both serve as presiding officers of their councils, supervising council meetings and keeping order. Both mayors and lord mayors also have many ceremonial duties and take part in civic functions, from entertaining foreign dignitaries to opening church festivals. For many of these civic duties, the mayor or lord mayor wears special robes and a chain of office.
London’s lord mayor, one of the best-known officials in the United Kingdom, is chairman of the Corporation of the City of London. Each November, after being elected, the new lord mayor takes part in the Lord Mayor’s Show, a colorful procession through London’s streets. In this show, the lord mayor is presented for the approval of the sovereign and the people of London. The lord mayor travels to the Royal Courts of Justice to make a declaration of office before the lord chief justice and other judges representing the monarch. This ceremony, which dates from 1215, used to take place on the River Thames. At the Banqueting Hall, the lord mayor gives a banquet attended by the City of London’s businesspeople. One of London’s most famous lord mayors was Dick Whittington (see Whittington, Dick ).
