The first Lady Mayor of London, titled more than 800 years after the mayoralty was created, has been celebrated in a procession through the capital.
Dame Susan Langley is the 697th Lord Mayor of London – the head of the City of London Corporation – but the first to be titled Lady Mayor of London.
She is the third woman to hold the post, but her two female predecessors were not made Lady Mayors.
Dame Susan used to be the lead non-executive director at the Home Office and received a damehood in 2023 for public service to the financial services industry.
The 62-year-old is now the chairwoman of insurance broker Gallagher UK.
She helped found the Women’s Business Council, which advises the government on how to boost women’s contributions to economic growth.
She took office in the Silent Ceremony at the Great Hall of the Guildhall on Friday and was properly introduced to the public in the Lady Mayor’s Show.
The three-mile-long procession set off from Mansion House, which is the mayor’s residence.
Dame Susan travelled from there to the Royal Courts of Justice, where she swore an oath of allegiance to the sovereign.
Marching bands, livery companies, representatives of the three armed forces, youth organisations and dancers from across the world joined the march with more than 7,000 participants.
The first Lord Mayor’s Show, the world’s oldest civic procession, was held after King John allowed the City of London to appoint its own mayor in 1215.
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As part of the procession, every new mayor travels to Westminster and pledges loyalty to the monarch.
Each Lord or Lady Mayor of the City of London has a one-year term, during which he or she operates as an international ambassador for the UK’s financial and professional services sector, and also works closely with the Mayor of London.
