Ceremonial maces in the United Kingdom carried by the Yeoman Usher of the Black Rod and placed behind the Lord Speaker on the Woolsack before the House sits. All members are required to bow their heads to the mace upon entering the chamber. It is absent when the monarch delivers his or her speech from the throne at State Openings of Parliament. The other mace accompanies the Lord Chancellor on official duties outside the House of Lords. Mace A was made in the reign of Charles II , is long and weighs . Mace B was made in the reign of William III and Mary II
Introduction (House of Lords) symbolic purpose", also stop. Finally, it deemed that, since the seating of Lords in order of the degree of peerage was an outdated practice, the Lords instead sitting by party, the practice of placing the new peer stop. The present ceremony involves the same procession as the former one, but, instead of proceeding to the Woolsack, it stops in front of the Table of the House. The Reading Clerk reads the Letters Patent presented to him by the Garter Principal King of Arms, and administers the Oath of Allegiance or Solemn Affirmation to the new peer. The new peer and