King Charles III has addressed MPs and peers in the hall and the Queen’s coffin will lie in state there.
Image source, AlamyWestminster Hall is where King Charles III is addressing MPs and peers and where the Queen’s coffin will lie in state later this week.
Built in 1097, it is a huge building that has played a significant role in British history across the centuries.
It has hosted the trials of Charles I and Guy Fawkes, Henry VIII’s Coronation Banquet and a Nelson Mandela speech.
The hall survived a devastating fire in the 19th Century that destroyed most of the rest of the Palace of Westminster.
The building of Westminster Hall was commissioned by King William II – the son of William the Conqueror – who wanted a significant construction project to impress his new subjects. Its stone walls were about 6ft (2m) thick and remain largely intact today, albeit extended in height and refaced during processes of restoration.
It acted as a banqueting hall – though was so large other smaller halls had to be built nearby for some occasions and the royal household usually ate in one of those.
From the 12th Century, Westminster became the administrative centre of the kingdom and the base for the Treasury.
The hall became the most common site for legal proceedings under Magna Carta in 1215, which stipulated there should be a fixed place where judges should sit.
That led to it being the location for the trials of Charles I and Guy Fawkes, and indeed where Oliver Cromwell’s head was stuck on a pole after the monarchy was restored and Charles II became king.
In more modern times, the hall remains in regular use. Many visitors to the Houses of Parliament walk through the hall after entering the building and passing through security checks.
Parliamentary discussions happen there and it stages addresses from visiting dignitaries such as French President Charles de Gaulle in 1960, South African leader Nelson Mandela in 1996 and Pope Benedict in 2010.
The first royal lying-in state in the hall was that of Edward VII in 1910 and the most recent that of the Queen Mother in 2002, the same year the Queen addressed MPs and peers on the occasion of her Golden Jubilee.
