My latest article: Crown-wearings

The May issue of the British monthly magazine Majesty (Vol. 37, No. 5) was published on Thursday, the ninetieth birthday of Europe's only crowned monarch, and contains and article by me about crown-wearings. Nowadays the British State Opening of Parliament, which this year will take place on 18 May, is the only time apart from a coronation when a crown is actually worn and Queen Elizabeth II puts on the crown as if it were a hat, but in the middle ages, crown-wearings were in themselves a solemn ritual. Kings wore crowns on the great religious feast days to stress not only their power and sacred elevation but their likeness to Jesus and crowns were placed on the monarchs' heads by high prelates in a ritual based on coronations. The article explores the roots of crown-wearings, how the ritual fell into abeyance and how the tradition of wearing a crown to Parliament was revived by King George V in 1913.

Parliament votes in favour of monarchy

Norway remains a monarchy. That is the outcome of today's parliamentary vote on a proposal to amend the Constitution to introduce a republic.
The amendment of several articles of the Constitution, subject to approval by a referendum, which had been suggested by Hallgeir H. Langeland and Snorre Serigstad Valen of the Socialist Left Party and Eirin Sund, Truls Wickholm, Marianne Marthinsen and Jette F. Christensen of the Labour Party, received only 26 votes, while 137 MPs voted against it.
Among the 26 republicans, six belong to the Socialist Left Party, three to the Liberal Party, one to the Conservative Party and sixteen to the Labour Party. Most prominent among the latter was Hadia Tajik, the party's deputy leader.

Swedish general election cancelled

The extraordinary Swedish general election which it was recently announced would take place on 22 March will now not take place after all, it was announced on Saturday. This follows from an agreement reached between the governing Social Democrats and Green Party and the four parties of the centre-right block which aims at making it possible for a minority government to survive despite the stated intention of the right-wing extremist Sweden Democrats, who hold the parliamentary balance, to defeat any government that will not do the extremists' bidding.
The decision to hold an extraordinary parliamentary election in March was announced by Prime Minister Stefan Löfven on 3 December, after the Sweden Democrats ensured that his government's budget was defeated and the budget proposed by the four centre-right parties, which ruled for eight years until they were defeated in September's general election, was adopted instead.
However, the Social Democrats and the Green Party on one side and the Conservatives, the Liberal People's Party, the Centre Party and the Christian Democrats on the other have now reached an agreement, valid from 2015 till 2022, which says that neither of them will block the election of the leader of the largest party constellation to the premiership and ensures that the government will be able to get its budget proposal through Parliament, while it will also no longer be possible for the opposition to amend single parts of the budget.
This agreement across the divide between the two blocks cancels out the influence of the Sweden Democrats, who responded by stating their disgust that it will be possible for a "very small minority" to decide over a majority, which seems to be an ironic statement from a party which after receiving thirteen percent of the votes made clear their intention to defeat any government and budget that would not do their bidding. he Sweden Democrats will now call for a vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and have demanded that the four centre-right parties join them in defeating the government, something those parties have again made it clear they will not do.

Right-wing extremists oust Swedish government

When the King and Queen of Sweden return from their state visit to France on Thursday night they may perhaps wonder if their kingdom has turned into a banana republic in their absence. At least that may seem to be the case after the right-wing extremist party the Sweden Democrats on Wednesday ousted the government which took office two months ago and declared their intention to defeat any government or budget which does not comply with the Sweden Democrats' anti-immigration policy, thus threatening to make Sweden ungovernable. The Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven, will now dissolve the Parliament that was elected in mid-September and an extraordinary election will be held on 22 March next year, something which has not happened since 1958.
The crisis erupted when the Sweden Democrats, who hold the parliamentary balance, broke with the parliamentary custom that a party lays down its votes after its own budget proposal has been defeated in the first round. Rather than doing this the Sweden Democrats voted in favour of the budget proposal of the four centre-right parties who formed the previous government, but lost power in the election in September, which was thereby passed instead of the one proposed by the current government, a coalition of the Social Democrats and the Green Party.
The government are obviously unwilling to govern Sweden according to the opposition's budget and Prime Minister Stefan Löfven was therefore left with three choices: to send the budget back to the financial committee to try to achieve a compromise with the centre-right, to resign and let the Speaker of Parliament try to find someone capable of forming a new cabinet or dissolving Parliament. After it became clear on Tuesday evening that the Sweden Democrats would indeed use their power to defeat the government Löfven invited the leaders of the four centre-right parties for talks to try to reach an agreement across the divide between the two blocks, but all such attempts were rejected by the centre-right, who despite insisting that they would not give the extremists any influence seem to relish this opportunity to humiliate the Social Democrats, who has traditionally been viewed as the natural party of stable government.
This does however seem like a dangerous game to play, as the centre-right seem to have no plans for how to be able to form a cabinet or pass a budget if the extraordinary election leaves them as the largest parliamentary block but the Sweden Democrats still hold the parliamentary balance. After losing their parliamentary majority in the 2010 election the centre-right governed for four years with the tacit support of the Sweden Democrats, but this opportunity has now been blocked by the extremists' vow to defeat any government and budget that will not do their anti-immigration bidding.
Parliament will be formally dissolved on 29 December, but will continue to sit until the date of the extraordinary election on 22 March. In the meantime Prime Minister Stefan Löfven will carry on, but with the opposition's budget having been passed stalemate will reign in Swedish politics until the end of March.

On this date: The bicentenary of the Swedish-Norwegian union

200 years ago today Norway and Sweden formed a union of crowns when the Norwegian Parliament passed a revised Constitution and elected King Carl XIII of Sweden King of Norway. The union was formalised by the Act of Union the following year.
Despite what some people, perhaps particularly foreigners, seem to think, the union did not in any way mean that Norway became part of Sweden (or the other way around) or that the two countries became one state. It was in fact one of the loosest unions in history, the two countries sharing only the King and, as foreign policy was considered a royal prerogative, the foreign service. The relationship between the two countries can perhaps best be compared to the relationship between Britain and Hanover between 1714 and 1837.
The Swedes liked to refer to the two countries as "the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway" (the term seems to have been less popular in Norway), but the plural spells out the difference from "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and (Northern) Ireland".
The union was the brainchild of the Swedish Crown Prince Carl Johan, who hoped eventually to achieve an amalgamation of the two countries. In this he failed, but after his rather turbulent reign there followed what has subsequently been called "the happy days of the union". Clouds began to gather in the reign of Carl XV, and from the 1880s there were numerous conflicts and crisis until the Norwegian Parliament unilaterally deposed Oscar II on 7 June 1905 and Norway thereby withdrew from the union. Following negotiations between the two countries in Karlstad in the autumn, the union was formally dissolved on 26 October 1905 after both parliaments had ratified the Treaty of Karlstad and Oscar II abdicated the crown of Norway.
The union has subsequently had a very bad press in Norway, the bitterness of the political disputes having overshadowed the fact that it was also a time of economic and cultural blossoming.
Commemorations of the bicentenary have been fairly low-key, with conferences taking place yesterday and today and by a speech by the Speaker of Parliament at the start of today's parliamentary sitting.

Walburga Habsburg Douglas loses Parliament seat

A week after the Swedish general election all the votes have now been counted and the distribution of Parliament seats between parties and candidates finalised. Some of my readers may be interested in knowing that Walburga Habsburg Douglas, the former Archduchess of Austria-Hungary and daughter of that country's last crown prince, Otto von Habsburg, was not re-elected to the Swedish Parliament.
Walburga Habsburg Douglas was first elected to Parliament for the Conservative party in 2006 and was re-elected in 2010. In this year's election she was demoted to the eighth position on her party's list for the county of Södermanland, meaning that she would need a lot of personal votes to supersede those ahead of her on the list. However, as the Conservatives won three seats from Södermanland and Walburga Habsburg Douglas received only 117 votes she will be neither an MP nor a substitute (i.e. one of those who step in if an MP is absent or renounces his or her seat). Her parliamentary career thus seems to have come to an end.

Spanish Congress passes abdication bill

After what seems to have turned into a rather heated, three-hour debate today, the Spanish Congress of Deputies has passed the bill of King Juan Carlos's abdication by 299 votes against 19 (and 23 abstentions). The bill will be debated in the Senate on 17 June and is expected to be signed into law the following day by King Juan Carlos, who thereby ceases being the King of Spain.

Princess Ingrid Alexandra makes parliamentary debut

Today (or by now rather yesterday) Parliament held a special meeting to commemorate the bicentenary of the Constitution, which was passed on 16 May 1814 and signed and dated the following day. For this occasion the MPs were joined by the royal family, the members of the cabinet and the Supreme Court and the speakers of the parliaments of Denmark, Sweden, Iceland and Finland.
The King and Queen were accompanied by the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Princess Astrid. Prince Sverre Magnus had apparently been excused, while Princess Märtha Louise, who lives in London, had chosen not to travel to her native land for this important occasion. For Princess Ingrid Alexandra this was her first appearance in Parliament which she, unless the Constitution is changed, will open every year when she succeeds to the throne.
The Constitution bars the King from being present while Parliament is sitting, but as no parliamentary deliberations took place today his presence was "tolerated". Similar meetings have been held in the presence of members of the royal family to commemorate other important occasions, including the 175th anniversary of the Constitution 25 years ago, the 50th, 75th and 100th anniversaries of the dissolution of the personal union with Sweden in 1905 and the 100th anniversary of the introduction of parliamentarianism in 1884, as well as after the terrorist attacks directed against the Labour Party by a right wing extremist in 2011.
Today speeches were given by the Speaker of Parliament, Olemic Thommessen (Conservative), as well as the speakers of the Danish and Swedish parliaments, Mogens Lykketoft and Per Westerberg. Following the meeting the King and Queen hosted a reception at the Palace for nearly all the mayors of the 428 municipalities, while a sparsely attended "people's party" was held in Eidsvoll Square outside the Parliament Building.

Norway's Constitution bicentenary coming up

Norway celebrates the bicentenary of its independence this year and next week will be filled with events to mark the bicentenary of the Constitution, which was passed at Eidsvoll on 16 May 1814 and signed and dated the following day, when Prince Christian Frederik of Denmark was elected King of Norway.
The main events will obviously take place on 17 May. In addition to the usual National Day celebrations there will be a televised gala from the park at Eidsvoll Manor, where the Constituent Assembly was held. For this event the King and Queen and the Crown Prince and Crown Princess will be joined by the Queen and Prince Consort of Denmark and, very reluctantly, the King and Queen of Sweden. For a few hours this day the original Constitution, which is usually kept under lock and key in the Parliamentary Archives, will be brought back
Two days prior, at noon on 15 May, Parliament will hold a special commemorative meeting. This will be one of the rare occasions when the King is present in Parliament (the Constitution forbids his presence during parliamentary deliberations, a remnant from the days the King might try to coerce Parliament into doing what he wanted), and the King will be accompanied by the Queen, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess and Princess Astrid. At previous such events the children of the royal family have also attended, but it remains to be seen whether Princess Ingrid Alexandra and perhaps also Prince Sverre Magnus will make a first appearance in Parliament. Afterwards a public celebration will take place in Eidsvoll Square in front of the Parliament Building (while the King and Queen host a reception for mayors from across the country at the Palace).
On 18 May a statue of King Christian Frederik by the sculptor Kristian Blystad will be unveiled in Eidsvoll Square by Queen Margrethe in the presence of the King and Queen and Prince Consort Henrik.
Among other events is a banquet in the City Hall of Oslo on 14 May and an ecumenical service in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim on 20 May, as well as several exhibitions at museums in Oslo as well as other places.

Conservative Speaker in defiance of parliamentary custom

Receiving the King and Queen of the Netherlands yesterday turned out to be one of the last things Dag Terje Andersen did in his role as Speaker of the Norwegian Parliament. It was announced yesterday that the Conservative MP Olaf Michael “Olemic” Thommessen will be elected Speaker when the new Parliament is constituted on 8 October. This is somewhat surprising as Thommessen was widely expected to become Minister of Culture in the new government and because it breaks with tradition whereby the Speaker is normally chosen among MPs from the largest party in Parliament, i.e. the Labour Party.
There are six seats in Parliament’s Presidium and while a parliamentary majority may in theory choose to use their strength to fill all seats with their own there is a “gentlemen’s agreement” that these ought to be distributed between the parties after size.
In the previous term this meant that Labour, which was significantly larger than any other party, had the posts of Speaker and Third Vice Speaker, the Progress Party the First Vice Speaker, the Conservatives the Second Vice Speaker, the Socialist Left Party the Fourth Vice Speaker and the Christian People’s Party the Fifth Vice Speaker. The last position should by right have been held by the Centre Party, but was given to the Christian People’s Party so that there were as many members of the presidium from the parties forming a majority government as from the opposition.
Having won a majority in this year’s general election the four parties to the right of the political centre have apparently decided to dispense with this parliamentary custom. It is, however, not the first time this happens; between 1985 and 1993 the centre-right majority ensured that the Speaker’s chair was filled by the Conservative MP Jo Benkow.
It remains to be decided who will be the other five members of the Presidium.

Dutch King and Queen in Oslo

Today the new King and Queen of the Netherlands will pay a brief visit to Oslo. This is one of the one-day so-called introductory visits King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima are undertaking after their accession on 30 April. These visits are a new invention and are not state visits, but courtesy calls. Similar visits have already been made to other European heads of state, including the Queens of Denmark and Britain.
The King and Queen will hold a lunch at the Royal Palace in honour of the Dutch guests, which will also be attended by the Crown Prince and Crown Princess and by Princess Astrid. King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima will also meet outgoing Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and go to the Parliament Building to call on the Speaker of Parliament, Dag Terje Andersen (as the new Parliament convened yesterday but has not yet been constituted or opened the Speaker of the previous Parliament is still carrying out the duties of his office).

Right wing populists to enter Norwegian government

It was announced yesterday that the talks between the four parties right of the political centre which began after Norway’s general election on 9 September have concluded that the Conservative Party and the right wing populist Progress Party will begin negotiations to form a minority coalition government, while the two centre-right parties, the Liberal Party and the Christian People’s Party, will not enter the coalition. However, the four parties, who together hold a parliamentary majority, have signed an agreement whereby the Liberal Party and the Christian People’s Party have received certain concessions and the incoming government has agreed to seek parliamentary support from them.
If the negotiations succeed and lead to the formation of a government it will be the first time in Norwegian history that the Progress Party enters the government offices and indeed one of the few examples of a Conservative party forming a government with the right wing populists.
The King will open the new Parliament on 9 October. Five days later the outgoing Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, will present the fiscal budget for 2014 and thereafter tender his and his centre-left coalition government’s resignation to the King. The new government will thereafter take office within a few days.
The outcome announced yesterday marks the failure of the preferred strategy of incoming Prime Minister Erna Solberg, leader of the Conservative Party, whose aim was a majority government which included all the four parties right of the political centre. As things stand she will now first have to make compromises to the right with the Progress Party, which on crucial issues have placed itself outside the general political consensus, and when this has been achieved the government will have to make another compromise to the left to find parliamentary support. The next four years will surely not be boring politically.

Norway veers to the right

Yesterday Norway went to the polls and the results of the general election show that the country took a huge step to the right. Having lost his majority, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, leader of the centre-left coalition which has governed for eight years, has informed the King that he will step down, paving the way for a new government, which will most likely be a coalition of the Conservative Party and the far right wing Progress Party, possibly also with one or both of the centre-right parties.
With 99.9 % of the votes counted the results are as follows:

The Labour Party, 30.8 % (-4.6), 55 seats (-9)
The Conservative Party, 26.9 % (+9.6), 48 seats (+18)
The Progress Party, 16.3 % (-6.7), 29 seats (-12)
The Christian People's Party, 5.6 % (no change), 10 seats (no change)
The Centre Party, 5.4 % (-0.8), 10 seats (-1)
The Liberal Party, 5.3 % (+1.4), 9 seats (+7)
The Socialist Left Party, 4.1 % (-2.1), 7 seats (-4)
The Green Party, 2.8 % (+2.5), 1 seat (+1)
The Red Party, 1.1 % (-0.2), no seats (no change).

This means that the governing coalition of Labour, the Socialist Left and the Centre Party have 72 seats out of 169, falling well short of the 85 needed for a majority, while the four parties to the right have 96. The Green Party, which enters Parliament for the first time, does not (yet) belong to either block.
As a consequence of this, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg (Labour) announced last night that he will submit his resignation to the King after the new Parliament has been opened on 9 October and the fiscal budget presented five days later. The new Prime Minister will most likely be the leader of the Conservative Party, Erna Solberg. She has throughout the election campaign and beyond been rather unwilling to go into detail about what sort of coalition she envisages, only stating that she would prefer all four of the parties to the right to join the government, which seems unlikely as the centre-right Christian People's Party and the Liberal Party are very reluctant to sit in the same cabinet as the far-right Progress Party. Thus the most likely scenario seems to be a coalition of the Conservatives and the Progress Party, which will be dependent on either the Christian People's Party or the Liberal Party to reach a parliamentary majority. If so, Erna Solberg will be one of the first Conservative leaders in Europe to allow a right wing populist party into the government offices.
Given that she succeeds in forming a government, Erna Solberg will be the second female Prime Minister of Norway after Gro Harlem Brundtland (Labour), who was Prime Minister in 1981, 1986-1989 and 1990-1996.

On this date: A century of female suffrage

Today Norway celebrates the centenary of the right to vote being given to all adult women by Parliament on 11 June 1913. Norway was the fourth country in the world to introduce general female suffrage, but as New Zealand and Australia were under British rule and Finland under Russian, Norway was the first independent country to give this right to women.
All men above the age of 25 had been given the right to vote in 1898, while about 40 % of women over the age of 25 were given the right to vote in municipal elections in 1901 and in 1907 a limited number of women were allowed to vote in parliamentary elections, meaning that a woman, Anna Rogstad, took a seat in Parliament for the first time in 1911.
Obviously the emancipation of women did not just come about, but met with fierce opposition from conservatives, and today (and throughout this year) many of those women and men who campaigned for women's right to vote are being honoured for their work.

At the road’s end: Jo Benkow (1924-2013), former Speaker of Parliament

Jo Benkow, former Speaker of Parliament and leader of the Conservative party, the first Jew to be elected to Parliament and probably known to some readers of this blog as a royal biographer, died on Saturday at the age of 88.
The grandson of a Russian court photographer who had fled Russia during the 1905 pogroms, Josef Elias Benkow was born in Trondheim on 15 August 1924. He followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming a photographer, but his education was interrupted by the Second World War. He managed to escape to Sweden in 1942 and served in the Norwegian air force in Britain and Canada, while all the female members of his family were murdered in Auschwitz.
Jo Benkow joined the Conservative party and was elected to Parliament in 1965, remaining there until 1993. He was leader of the party from 1980 to 1984, but remained outside the cabinet when the party formed a government led by Kåre Willoch in 1981. From 1985 to 1993 he served as Speaker of Parliament, the second most senior position in the country.
Benkow was known for his work against racism, prejudices and intolerance and did much to create awareness of such issues. Many remember his moving speech in support of the law which introduced civilian partnerships for homosexuals in 1993.
Jo Benkow was the author of several books, among which the autobiographical Fra synagogen til Løvebakken became a bestseller. He also authored a biography of King Olav, Olav - Menneske og monark, for which he interviewed the King only hours before the monarch was taken ill and died on 17 January 1991.
Jo Benkow will be buried at the Mosaic section of the Eastern Cemetery in Oslo on Wednesday.

Parliament votes in favour of the monarchy

Yesterday the Norwegian Parliament debated a proposal aiming at initiating a process leading to the introduction of a republic. The proposal was put forward by the MPs Hallgeir H. Langeland and Snorre Serigstad Valen of the Socialist Left Party, and Eirin Sund, Truls Wickholm, Marianne Marthinsen and Jette F. Christensen of the Labour Party. After a short debate, which may be read here (external link), the idea was rejected with 83 votes against and only 11 for.

My latest article: Carl XIV Johan as King of Norway

To mark the 250th anniversary yesterday of the birth of King Carl XIV Johan of Sweden and of Norway I have written an article about him which appears in Aftenposten today. The article deals with his role as King of Norway from 1818, which has been accorded comparatively little attention by his many biographers. His political goals were so increase the King’s powers and to achieve an amalgamation between Sweden and Norway, neither of which he achieved. To the contrary, his long power struggle against Parliament led to the monarch’s power diminishing. However, he succeeded in his role as city planner and builder, leaving an indelible mark on Oslo, which means that his name and memory are ever-present in the Norwegian capital to this day.

British government introduces bill to change succession

Earlier this week the British government presented its bill to change the succession to the throne, formally called the Succession to the Crown Bill. As earlier mentioned the introduction of this bill follows agreement having been reached between the sixteen realms of which Elizabeth II is queen to introduce gender neutral succession.
This mean that the as yet unborn first child of Prince William will be heir to the throne regardless of whether it is a boy or a girl, whereas a girl would, under previous legislation, have been bypassed by a younger brother.
The bill makes this change retroactive, but only back to 28 October 2011, the date the prime ministers of the sixteen realms reached their agreement. Thus it will only affect those born after that date, which means that for instance Princess Anne and her descendants will still come after her younger brothers Prince Andrew and Prince Edward and their descendants. Lady Louise Windsor, the daughter of Prince Edward, will also still follow behind her younger brother James, Viscount Severn. I think the person closest to the throne who will actually be affected by this is the newborn grandchild of the Duke of Gloucester, Tane Lewis, who is currently ahead of his elder sister Senna in the succession, but who will cease being so when the bill is enacted.
The bill further removes the ban on people married to Catholics from succeeding to the throne. However, those who are themselves Catholic will still be barred from succeeding (as the monarch is head of the Church of England). Interestingly, this provision is made retroactive for those who have married Catholics and are still alive. The persons closest to the throne affected by this are the Earl of St Andrews (son of the Duke of Kent) and Prince Michael, who lost their succession rights when they married Catholics, but who will now regain a place in the order of succession. Several other people will also be affected by this, including for instance the three children of the late Princess Ragnhild of Norway.
Thirdly, the bill radically limits the scope of people who need the British monarch’s permission to marry. Under the Royal Marriages Act of 1772 (which will now be repealed in its entirety), all descendants of George II, except those descending from princesses who married into foreign royal houses, needed the monarch’s permission to marry in order for their marriages to be valid under British law. From the time this bill comes into force the need to obtain permission will only apply to the first six in line for the throne – i.e. currently the Prince of Wales (Prince Charles), the Duke of Cambridge (Prince William), Prince Henry, the Duke of York (Prince Andrew), Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie. Once the first child of Prince William is born next year, Princess Eugenie will be free of this obligation. Failure to comply with this rule means the loss of succession rights for the person in question and his or her descendants. Most marriages deemed void by the Royal Marriages Act will now be “legalised”.
The bill also involves amendments to several other pieces of legislation, namely the Treason Act of 1351, the Bill of Rights, the Act of Settlement and the Regency Act of 1937. Interestingly, the bill does not make any changes to the practice whereby the Duchy of Cornwall devolves on the heir to the throne when the eldest son of the monarch. I believe this will require separate legal amendments, as does the issue of whether the title Princess of Wales may in the future be given to the heir apparent when being the monarch’s daughter.
Under current legislation the title Prince(ss) of the United Kingdom and the style Royal Highness are(by Letters Patent of 1917) limited to the children and the male-line grandchildren of the monarch. At some stage one would expect new letters patent to be issued to alter this, which will no longer make sense when the eldest child is heir regardless of its sex.
It is also interesting to observe that the bill does not limit the succession to the throne. Thus all descendants of the Electress Sophia of Hanover, except Catholics, will continue to be in the order of succession and the retroactive inclusion of those who have married Catholics will mean that the number of potential heirs (which already run to hundreds and hundreds of people) will actually increase.
When this bill is passed by the House of Commons and the House of Lords and come into effect Spain and Monaco will be the only European monarchies where males still take precedence over females in the succession (while Liechtenstein bars women altogether).

British Parliament’s clock tower renamed in honour of Queen Elizabeth II

In a ceremony at its foot yesterday, the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, which is home to the British Houses of Parliament, was renamed the Elizabeth Tower in honour of Queen Elizabeth II. The decision to rename the tower, popularly but incorrectly known as “Big Ben” (which is actually the name only of the main bell), was taken earlier this year in connection with the celebrations of Queen Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee. Thus the two main towers of the Palace of Westminster are now named, respectively, the Elizabeth Tower and the Victoria Tower, commemorating the two British monarchs who have reigned for more than sixty years.

British Parliament’s Clock Tower to be renamed in honour of Queen Elizabeth II

During a meeting of the House of Commons Committee yesterday it was decided that the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster, which houses the British Houses of Parliament, will be renamed the Elizabeth Tower in honour of the diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.
Perhaps one should not be surprised that parts of the media report that “Big Ben is to renamed”, but this is wrong; Big Ben is the name only of the clock, not of the tower, whose name is now quite simply the Clock Tower.
The other tower of the Palace of Westminster was originally known as the King’s Tower, but was later renamed the Victoria Tower in honour of Queen Victoria. To me it seems quite fitting for the two towers of the Parliament building to bear the names of the two longest-reigning monarchs in British history.
It has not yet been decided when or in what manner the actual renaming will happen.