Lord Mayor's Show: 800th edition sees Jeffrey Mountevans follow in Dick Whittington's footsteps

The day of pomp and pageantry will take place next Saturday to welcome the City of London's 688th Lord Mayor

The New Lord Mayor of London Roger Gifford stands outside the Guildhall after attending the Silent Ceremony on November 9, 2012 (Getty)

‘An unbroken tradition of 800 years is an extraordinary thing,” says Dominic Reid, the pageantmaster of the Lord Mayor’s Show, the annual celebration that welcomes in the new Lord Mayor of the City of London.

On Saturday, the day of pomp and pageantry will take place for the 800th time. It is the “only event of its kind in the world that has taken place annually over eight centuries”, says Mr Reid, who has run the show for 24 years after inheriting the job from his father.

Jeffrey Mountevans, a Swedishborn ship-broker, will become the 688th Lord Mayor on Friday. He is already a familiar figure in the City, having been appointed Sheriff of the City of London Corporation a year ago.

Lord Mountevans will officially assume the position of Lord Mayor by taking part in the Silent Ceremony, an event billed as one of the capital’s most whimsical and anachronistic traditions. The Lord Mayor-elect will swear an oath of office and undertake to safeguard the silver and furniture at Mansion House, his official residence for the next 12 months.

The following day, Saturday, the City of London will erupt with pomp and spectacle as 7,000 people, floats, horses, Taiko Drummers and even the Batmobile take part in the Lord Mayor’s Show.

The St Mary-le-Bow church bells will ring out 800 changes at noon, a nod to Dick Whittington who, according to the fairy tale, was on the verge of quitting London when the sound of bells lured him back to the capital.

Artwork for the anniversary year has been created by the British pop artist Sir Peter Blake, who designed the album cover for the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The artist’s collage manages to incorporate every century of the parade in a single image.

Prime Minister Tony Blair and wife Cherie meet the new Lord Mayor of London and Lady Mayoress, Lord and Lady Levene, in 1998 (PA)

The Lord Mayor’s Show dates back to 1215 when a paranoid King John grudgingly allowed the City of London to elect its own mayor. There was an important condition, however: every newly elected Lord Mayor had to leave the safety of the City of London to travel through the streets of the Square Mile to Westminster to swear loyalty to the Crown.

There has been some confusion over the years between the Lord Mayor of the City of London and the Mayor of London – currently Boris Johnson – a paid political role and accountable for the strategic government of Greater London, including responsibility for transport, policing and emergency planning. The first Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, was elected in 2000 – while the first Lord Mayor, Henry Fitz-Ailwin de Londonestone, was sworn in 1189.

Although the Lord Mayor is responsible for day-to-day City issues such as parking and services, his or her main role is promoting the financial service industry both in the UK and overseas.

The job involves three months abroad and countless banquets and speeches, so a love of the spotlight is a useful attribute. But as Sir John Stuttard (Lord Mayor from 2006-07) says: “It’s such a valuable institution. No other city in the world has an individual to devote a full year to promoting the financial services in the city.”

The most famous Lord Mayor was, of course, Richard Whittington (circa 1356–1423), who held the position four times and inspired a fairy tale, although there is no evidence that a cat played a part in his fame and fortune.

There have been only two women Lord Mayors – Dame Mary Donaldson (1983-84), a former nurse and chair of the Women’s National Cancer Control Campaign and vice-president of the British Cancer Council, and Dame Fiona Woolf, (2013-14), the solicitor who quit as chair of the Government’s child sexual abuse inquiry over her links to the Westminster political establishment.

The spectacle of the show starts at 9am with the new Lord Mayor’s arrival in the City via the Thames on board the Queen’s Royal Rowbarge Gloriana, in a flotilla sailing from Westminster to Tower Bridge. The main procession leaves Mansion House at 11am, and the Lord Mayor joins the procession from noon.

The day ends with a fireworks display launched from a barge moored between Blackfriars and Waterloo at 5.15pm.

For more details and best viewpoints visit: lordmayorsshow.london.