The King’s Speech ran to 1,223 words, making it the longest monarch’s speech at a state opening of Parliament since 2005.
It was 349 words longer than the speech at the previous state opening in May 2022, which was delivered by Charles – then Prince of Wales – on behalf of his mother, the late Queen, who did not attend on doctors’ advice.
The text of this year’s speech took 11 and a half minutes for Charles to read out loud, compared with eight minutes and 45 seconds last year.
But there were fewer pieces of legislation covered by this speech (20 Bills and one draft, totalling 21) than in 2022 (33 Bills and five drafts, totalling 38), with several paragraphs instead summarising the Government’s broad aims in domestic and foreign affairs.
It was the longest text, by word count, since the 1,248-word speech delivered by the late Queen at the 2005 state opening of Parliament, which followed the third successive general election victory for the Labour Party led by Tony Blair.
The longest monarch’s speech since the Second World War occurred in November 1999, when Elizabeth II had to deliver a speech containing 1,751 words.
The text, which took more than 15 minutes to read out, came during Tony Blair’s first Labour government.
The shortest speech occurred exactly a decade later, in November 2009.
Totalling just 735 words, it took six and a half minutes to deliver and was the final Queen’s Speech of Gordon Brown’s Labour government.
This year was the first time since 1951 that a state opening was marked by a King’s Speech.
In 1951 the speech ran to 1,142 words – slightly shorter than 2023’s 1,223 words.
The King’s Speech of 1951 was the last to occur in the reign of George VI – Charles’s grandfather – though it was not delivered by George in person, as he was too ill to attend, and was read instead by the Lord Chancellor.
This year’s speech was well above the average length (1,091 words) of speeches during Elizabeth II’s 70-year reign.
The longest monarchs’ speeches since 1945 have all been under Labour prime ministers, with Tony Blair’s 1997-2001 government accounting for three of the top five.
Among the five shortest speeches is the first one delivered by Elizabeth II, which took place in November 1952 and was just 799 words long.
