The State Dining Room

Although Speakers must always have entertained in their official capacity, the tradition for grand State dinners appears to date from the establishment of the Speaker’s House at the end of the 18th century.

In 1800 the dinners were held weekly, usually on Saturday but occasionally on Sunday, at half past five, and uniform or Court dress was worn.

In recent years, Speakers have done a great deal of entertaining, with most Members of Parliament and senior parliamentary staff as well as official visitors from around the world receiving invitations. The main changes in recent times have been a reduction in the number of courses served and the relaxation of regulations in matters of dress.

The present State Dining Room is an impressive room with painted panels in the ceiling. The character of the room is, however, determined by the solemn sequence of life-size Speakers’ portraits. The series starts to the left of the door from the Corner Drawing Room with Speaker Shaw-Lefevre, who served between 1839 and 1857, painted by Sir Martin Archer Shee, and then proceeds in chronological order around the room to end on the other side of the door with

Dr Horace King, who was Speaker between 1965 and 1971. The portraits were all painted in this room and are framed in the same way with a panel below giving the name, dates of office and coat of arms.