Sunday 19 March 2023

Mayoral Robe

Belfast is one of the few cities in the United Kingdom where its Lord Mayor is styled Right Honourable.

This rank and style was conferred upon the Lord Mayor of Belfast by GEORGE V in March, 1923.

The prefix usually indicates that a person is a privy counsellor; though in the case of lord mayors of London, Belfast, Cardiff, York etc it indicates the status of a baron.

Alderman Jim Rodgers OBE (Image: Belfast City Hall)

Alderman Jim Rodgers OBE, 52nd Lord Mayor of Belfast, held office in 2001-2 and 2007-8.

The mayoral robe is probably made of black silk damask, trimmed with gold lace.

The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Lord Chancellor, 2015-16

The Lord Chancellor wears similar attire on ceremonial and state occasions.

A white lace jabot and white lace cuffs can also be worn.


Pictured above is the Rt Hon Sir William George Turner (a privy counsellor), Lord Mayor of Belfast, 1924-28, accompanying HRH Princess Mary, Countess of Harewood.

First published in July, 2016.

3 comments :

Christopher Bellew said...

Rt. Hon. Is tricky. MPs and even Hons are sometimes incorrectly upgraded. It is correctly conferred on all Peers, Privy Councillors and as I now know the Mayor of Belfast. Incidentally he was unlucky. It became the custom under Queen Victoria to make Mayors of cities she visited Baronets. I stand to be corrected in all of this because, as I say, it's tricky.

Timothy Belmont said...

Several Lord Mayors were indeed created baronets, including Clark & McConnell.

Andrew said...

On a tangent: Derby wasn't a city until Jubilee year, 1977. However, I know that Queen Victoria knighted Sir Alfred Seale Haslam at the railway station when she came to visit the town and open the Derbyshire Royal Infirmary.