Royal moments

During the twentieth century the ties between the Royal Family and Lloyd’s grew stronger. Every monarch has visited each of Lloyd’s buildings. The Queen Mother maintained particularly close links with the Lloyd’s community and in 1974 she accepted honorary membership of the Society of Lloyd’s.

A right Royal relationship

In this short film we celebrate the many royal visits to the Lloyd’s building, the most recent being when HRH King Charles III visited in June 2021, as Prince of Wales, to launch the Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI) insurance task force, chaired by Lloyd’s.

The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh visit Lloyd’s Underwriting Room to unveil a plaque commemorating the market’s 325th anniversary.

Lloyd’s staff, underwriters, brokers and members gathered in the Underwriting Room to greet Her Majesty with a resounding cheer. Lloyd’s chairman John Nelson and Chief Executive Inga Beale led the Royal Party into the Room, and Lloyd’s famous Lutine Bell was rung twice to mark the occasion.

The Royal Party met representatives from the London market, Lloyd’s Community Programme, Lloyd’s Charities Trust and Lloyd’s Patriotic Trust.

Following the visit, the Royal Party attended a private luncheon with the Council and Franchise Board.

In 2006 Richard Ward, Lloyd’s former Chief Executive, described welcoming Prince Charles and The Duchess of Cornwall to Lloyd’s as one of his most memorable meetings during his Lloyd’s career.

The new Lloyd’s building at One Lime Street, designed by Richard Rogers, was officially opened by Her Majesty The Queen in 1986, five years after her mother had laid the first foundation stone – a reversal of their roles in relation to the 1958 building.

The grade I listed building, with its pipes, lifts and ‘pods’ presented on the outside, took Lloyd’s, and London, into a new and futuristic world. At the time the architecture was a complete departure from traditional design and was ground breaking in its style. But, now surrounded by modern buildings, Lloyd’s fits in comfortably with the rest of the City skyline.

The Queen Mother’s affection for Lloyd’s was clear, when in 1979 she returned to Lloyd’s again, this time to preside over the opening of Lloyd’s administrative offices in Chatham, Kent.

She spent so long chatting with members of staff that her helicopter, taking her back to London, took off late. 

Ian Findlay, Chairman of Lloyd’s said: “In agreeing to open this building, you give great pleasure not only to those of us here today but also to a wider community, in Lloyd’s and in Medway.”

Accompanied by HRH Princess Margaret, The Queen Mother made a warm address at the opening of the 1958 building. Her comments referred to the innovation, for which Lloyd’s is still well-known today:

“Fire, wars, and failures, have all, in their turn, been faced and conquered; new methods have matched new experience; wholly fresh fields of activity have been grafted upon the marine business, which for long comprised the only risks written, until today there seems nothing which cannot be insured at Lloyd’s.”