Medieval Cavalry in the Lord Mayor's Show

The Lord Mayor's Show is an annual procession through the City of London. Running since 1215. Floats, marching bands, military units, and medieval cavalry.

The ride

Historic Equitation provides mounted medieval performers. Full armour, heraldic surcoats, lances and banners. You ride through central London past half a million spectators. Mansion House to the Royal Courts of Justice and back.

The logistics

Getting horses into central London is an exercise in planning. Horsebox to staging area, kit up in a temporary stable, join the procession. Tarmac surface, so the horses wear road studs. The noise is significant. Not every horse handles it.

What it feels like

Surreal, mostly. You are riding down Fleet Street in medieval armour past office workers eating lunch. London has been doing this procession for eight hundred years. The medieval riders are not an anachronism. They are a reminder.