First-ever Lady Mayor of London in 800 years of the post swears loyalty to crown

The first Lady Mayor of London has sworn loyalty to the crown more than 800 years after the mayoralty was created.

Dame Susan Langley is the 697th Lord Mayor of London and the first ever to be titled Lady Mayor of London.

She is the third woman to hold the elected post, which heads the City of London Corporation, but the others were not made lady mayors.

Dame Susan Langley at the first Lady Mayor’s Show (David Parry/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - David Parry

The alderwoman took office in the Silent Ceremony at the Great Hall of the Guildhall on Friday.

The following day, the three-mile-long Lady Mayor’s Show procession set off from Mansion House, which is the mayor’s residence in the Square Mile.

Dame Susan was photographed waving a hat from the state coach as she travelled to the Royal Courts of Justice to swear an oath of allegiance to the sovereign.

The Company of Pike Men and Musketeers who walked alongside the state coach (David Parry/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - David Parry

Marching bands, livery companies, representatives of the three armed forces and youth organisations from across the world joined the 7,000-strong march.

The Lord Mayor’s Show is the world’s oldest civic procession and started after King John allowed the City of London to appoint its own mayor in 1215.

The charter was issued months before the Magna Carta was signed and it declared each newly-elected mayor should travel to Westminster and pledge loyalty to the king.

During the one-year term, the Lord or Lady Mayor of the City of London now operates as an international ambassador for the UK’s financial and professional services sector, and also works closely with the Mayor of London.

Dame Susan Langley being sworn in during the Silent Ceremony at the Great Hall of the Guildhall (Lucy North/PA)PA Wire/PA Images - Lucy North

Dame Susan, 62, is the chairwoman of insurance broker Gallagher UK, was previously a lead non-executive director at the Home Office and received a damehood in 2023 for public service to the financial services industry.

The east London-born mayor helped found the Women’s Business Council that advises Government on how to boost women’s contributions to economic growth.

Most of the roads in the City of London area are closed each year for the show.