Updated June 22, 2017 12:50:32

Photo: Queen Elizabeth II delivers the speech in the House of Lords. (AP: Carl Court)

The straw hats and parasols were on display as the temperature was set to reach 33 degrees Celsius.

Britain hasn't had a spell of weather this hot, for this long, since 1976.

And it's been that long since the Queen last turned up for the state opening of Parliament without the horse-drawn carriages, robes and crown.

The heat had nothing to do with the scaled-down pageantry, but it seemed to add to the flatness of what is normally a celebratory affair — an annual event considered the most important on the political calendar.

The Queen spoke for eight minutes, outlining the Government's agenda not just for the next 12 months, but for two years — another break from tradition.

Brexit was always going to dominate and the Queen began with the Government's desire to get the best possible deal from the negotiations to leave the European Union.

Of the 27 bills the Queen mentioned, eight of them were Brexit-related.

Critically, Her Majesty said: "My ministers are committed to working with Parliament, the devolved administrations and others to build the widest possible consensus on the country's future outside the European Union."

In other words, the game has changed.

Theresa May now leads a minority Government and she will have to make compromises on her previous hardline stance on Brexit negotiations.

Brexit's heavy weight on Parliament

There were noticeable omissions from the speech:

• No mention of Donald Trump's state visit, leading to speculation it is now indefinitely postponed. The Government says it wasn't mentioned only because a date hasn't been set.
• Many election pledges were shelved including expansion of grammar schools and social care, a free vote on fox hunting and a cap on energy bills.

The fact that so much of the Conservative's agenda was removed from the Queen's speech is not just because of the election result.

It's also because Brexit is such a heavy weight on this Parliament.

The Prime Minister's authority in is in obvious freefall, but in this political climate few could rule out more bizarre twists and turns that could save her, writes Europe correspondent James Glenday.

Many observers say there will be little room for anything else.

The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Tim Farron, was damning in his assessment of what had been left out.

"This slimmed-down Queen's speech shows a Government on the edge," he said.

"Having dropped everything from the dementia tax to fox hunting I assume the only reason they have proposed a space bill is so they can shoot their manifesto into space and pretend it never existed," he said, referring to the Government's pledge to expand the UK's $20-billion space industry.

Topics: world-politics, government-and-politics, foreign-affairs, united-kingdom, european-union

First posted June 22, 2017 00:21:42