Why Labour MP Samantha Dixon was held hostage at Buckingham Palace today
It was the tempestuous relationship between a previous King Charles and his parliament that meant on Wednesday, nearly 400 years later, an elected Labour MP was "taken hostage".
At 11am on Wednesday, when the current King Charles made his way from one palace to another (Buckingham to Westminster), a member of the House of Commons made the journey in the opposite direction.
The ceremonial royal bodyguards, known as the Yeoman of the Guard, ‘searched’ the cellars of the House of Commons and House of Lords for explosives.
They did so, to commemorate the famous gunpowder plot of 1605 – Guy Fawkes’ ultimately unsuccessful attempt on behalf of English Catholics to blow up the Houses of Parliament and with it the Protestant King, James I.
Once the search is completed, an MP is ceremonially held hostage at Buckingham Palace and released only after the King and Queen have returned from reading the King’s Speech.
It was first carried out under the reign of Charles I to ensure the Sovereign’s safe return from the Houses of Parliament.
The nominated MP is usually the one who holds the post of vice-chamberlain of the household, a government role which is technically part of the Royal Household but in reality, it is a government whip, one of those MPs in charge of party discipline.
The current holder of the post is Labour’s Samantha Dixon.
The first King Charles had an extremely contentious relationship with Parliament and since 1642, when he attempted to have five MPs arrested, the Monarch has not set foot in the House of Commons.
The bitter dispute eventually led to the English Civil War.
The battle between monarchy and parliament did not end well for Charles.
He lost and, in 1649, the King was beheaded.
The country, for the only period since William the Conqueror arrived in 1066, became a republic under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell.
He had the Crown Jewels melted and sold – and it is why the historic and symbolic items we saw at the Coronation last year only date back to King Charles II’s reign.
Following the Restoration of the monarchy and the subsequent coronation of Charles II, new crown jewels had to be constructed for the occasion (with the exception of the holy spoon which somehow escaped Cromwell’s melting mission).
One of the other traditional roles on Wednesday – and there are many - which are associated with previous Kings and Queens is that of the Sovereign’s bargemaster, who accompanied the King and Queen on their road journey from Buckingham Palace.
They are called the ‘bargemaster’ as it dates back to a time when Monarchs would travel to the Houses of Parliament along the River Thames from Hampton Court when the royal court was located there.
This is the Talking Royals - our weekly podcast about the royal family, with ITV News Royal Editor Chris Ship and Producer Lizzie Robinson