LONDON (Reuters) - Queen Elizabeth is still barred from the House of Commons, but not ordinary
folk.
Tours of parliament -- a grand Victorian palace among the world's most beautiful government buildings
-- were open to the public on Monday for the first time since an Irish republican bomb exploded on the
grounds two decades ago.
No monarch has been allowed into the House of Commons since King Charles I entered the lower chamber of parliament in
1642 to demand the arrest of five of its members.
The five escaped across the River Thames, the king was later beheaded and it's been more than three centuries since it all
happened. But historical memories are long around the Palace of Westminster, as the Houses of Parliament are officially called.
Tour guides say they stopped taking the general public through parliament on tours after an Irish terrorist bomb killed member
of parliament Airey Neave in 1979.
The bomb had been attached to his car outside his flat, but it went off on the ramp leading to the Commons' car park.
British citizens could always arrange tours through their MPs. But most foreigners were quite literally left out in the cold, their
only solace being to queue for the "Stranger's Gallery" where they could watch parliamentary debates.
As public tours resumed on Monday, tourists from around the world walked through the voting lobbies, gawking at the
Speaker's Chair and standing where Tony Blair stands each week as he sweats it out during Prime Minister's Questions.
It's part of an experiment in extending access to Westminster during the parliamentary summer recess. The 75-minute tour of
the palace, costing 3.50 pounds, is on offer until September 16. Parliament resumes in October.
QUEEN CAN SEE THE GOOD PARTS
While the Queen by tradition may be limited to certain parts of the palace, these are by far the more ornate parts.
She arrives at the Victoria Tower each November for the state opening of parliament, and this is the area where the new tours
begin too.
Visitors pass through the Royal Gallery, with its immense paintings of military victories at Trafalgar and Waterloo, and the
Prince's Chamber, with rich paintings of the Tudor monarchs. Henry VIII and all six of his wives are there.
Then comes the House of Lords chamber itself and its brilliant golden throne where the Queen sits. Behind it, incongruously,
there is a little closet for a vacuum cleaner.
In front of the throne is the Woolsack, symbol of Britain's major resource in the Middle Ages, still stuffed with wool from
Britain and Commonwealth countries. It is where the Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine of Lairg, sits in his role as speaker.
A note over one door admonishes the Lords that if they have to discuss something to please to do it out in Prince's Chamber,
and not behind the Woolsack.
Another asks the wives of peers, as well as their "unmarried daughters," to please give their names before taking a seat.
The tour moves to the Commons and ends in Westminster Hall, with the largest unsupported roof in England and some of the
grimmest history. Charles I went on trial there before he was executed. So did Henry VIII's Lord Chancellor Sir Thomas
More.
Westminster Hall is the oldest surviving part of parliament, with walls dating back 900 years. Everything else was rebuilt after an
1834 fire destroyed the old palace. The architect for the reconstruction was Charles Barry and the designer, Augustus Pugin,
who clearly was crazy about all things Gothic.
Nazi bombs wrecked the House of Commons in 1941 and it had to be rebuilt yet again. But it is still redolent of history.
Members must not cross two red lines on the floor separating government and opposition; they are two sword-lengths apart.
The door to the chamber is built of rubble from the 1941 bombing, and Churchill's statue stands to the left. His shoe is shiny
from years of being touched for good luck.