“She offered an island of certainty and continuity”: the Queen and the City | financial sector

IIn the shadow of the Bank of England, in the beating heart of the City of London, workers paint a statue of the Duke of Wellington. Mobilized after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, they prepare the commercial center known as the Square Mile to stage an event unprecedented in the lives of all but the city’s oldest veterans.

In less than 24 hours Charles III. publicly proclaimed the new sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Royal Exchange. It will be the second proclamation ceremony of the day. Accession must first be confirmed at St James’s Palace before heralds travel east to inform the City of London of their new monarch.

Meters from where these events will unfold, a steady stream of pinstriped commuters is suddenly stopped to let a convoy of military vehicles carrying huge artillery pieces pass to the Tower of London, ready for Saturday’s 62-gun salute .

As they roll by, the bells of the city’s many churches chime, hushed in mourning to mark the death of a monarch who presided over sweeping changes in Britain’s centuries-old commercial nerve center.

The Queen goes to Guildhall for lunch with the then Lord Mayor of London in June 1977. Photo: Mirrorpix/Getty Images

With a history stretching back 1,000 years, the City – a ceremonial county distinct from London itself – is one of the few institutions to boast a legacy nearly as long and storied as that of the Crown.

The first Lord Mayor of London, Henry Fitz Ailwin de Londonstane, assumed the title in 1189 after Richard I had granted greater autonomy to a cabal of businessmen whom he hoped would raise money for the Crown.

Today, the annually elected position at the helm of the City of London Corporation, which manages the Square Mile, is partly ambassador, a flag-bearer for the capital’s financial hub. In addition, it affords the holder a seat on the Accession Council, the group of dignitaries tasked with proclaiming the new monarch.

This momentous assignment for her current incumbent in the 693rd position, Vincent Keaveny, a commercial lawyer by profession, reflects the city’s continued importance, not only as a global center of trade, but also as a part of British history, which has made the Queen a more regular visitor.

The Queen delivers her annus horribilis speech at Guildhall, London in November 1992. Photo: Anwar Hussein/Getty Images

It was at the Guildhall, home of the City of London Corporation, that she delivered her famous “annus horribilis” speech in 1992, lamenting the fire that had ravaged Windsor Castle days earlier and her children’s marital problems. Two decades later, she celebrated her Diamond Jubilee at the nearby Mansion House.

At this point, the city had changed immeasurably from its rise in 1952, while still recovering from the ravages of wartime invasion.

David Buik, 78, a veteran financier and former trader, remembers how reconstruction was still going on when he came to the city on September 18, 1962 for his first day on the job.

Crowds gather at the Royal Exchange to hear the proclamation of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession in 1952. Photo: PA

“When I first came out of Barbican Station, it was a bomb site,” he said. “She brought a spirit of hope and aspiration to the business world because she inspired a spirit of friendship and innovation.”

London’s tallest building at the beginning of Elizabeth II’s reign was St. Paul’s Cathedral at just over 111 metres. Today the city is home to almost 100 buildings that stretch 100 meters, including the Gherkin, Heron Tower and the 278 meter high 22 Bishopsgate.

The Queen speaks to then Lord Mayor of London Nick Anstee during a reception at 30 St Mary Axe, the Gherkin in 2010. Photo: WPA/Getty Images

This physical transformation corresponds to the city’s stratospheric growth as a global financial center, catalyzed by events such as the abolition of exchange controls in 1979 and Big Bang deregulation in 1983.

At the time of the Queen’s coronation, the leading stock market index was the FT 30, the precursor to the FTSE 100. It contained no banks or technology giants and was instead dominated by shipbuilders such as Swan Hunter and Morris Motors. Sugar company Tate & Lyle is the sole survivor of the original 30 after aerospace company GKN was sold to investment firm Melrose in 2018.

The list of varnishing companies in the City of London – the modern incarnation of medieval professional guilds – offers another clue to their development. In 1952, the Adorable Society of Peasants was the latest addition to a list that included brewers, ironmongers, blacksmiths, and the oldest of all, the merchants’ guild founded in 1394.

As the city modernized, they were joined by airline pilots, scientific instrument makers, accountants, and even the venerable society of business consultants.

The Queen enters St Paul’s Cathedral after arriving for the Golden Jubilee service of Thanksgiving in 2002. Photo: Stephen Hird/REUTERS

Meanwhile, the hum of commerce grew louder and louder. So unstoppable is the trading machine that even on the day after the Queen’s death, the money-making business continued uninterrupted and the London Stock Exchange remained open for financial trading. It is only closed for the Queen’s funeral if the associated holiday falls on a weekday.

This tirelessness may be appropriate given how the city has weathered so many financial storms over its lifetime. “There was the 1956 Suez Crisis, Black Wednesday, the 1998 Russian credit crunch, the Iraq War, the 2008 banking crisis and Brexit,” Buik said.

In his opinion, what the queen offered the city was an island of security and continuity amidst the tumult of the financial markets.

“The physical reason is hard to say, but the spiritual reason is there because everyone knew what it stood for,” he says. “That sense of ‘My word is my covenant,’ which is so important in the city, oozed out.”