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
Members of the House of Lords and the Bishop of Sodor and Man). Under the Lords Spiritual (Women) Act 2015, female bishops take precedence over men until May 2025 to become new Lords Spiritual for the 21 seats allocated by seniority. Lords Temporal include life peers, excepted hereditary peers elected under the House of Lords Act 1999, and remaining law life peers. There are also peers who remain members of the House, but are currently ineligible to sit and vote. Under section 23 of the Standing Orders of the House of Lords, peers may obtain a leave of absence for the remainder of a parliament. The