--- description: The UK government's programme has been delayed in part by the arcane British tradition of writing it on thick goatskin parchment title: Queen's Speech Delayed to Allow Ink to Dry on Goatskin image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta93a214a48144934/6988d138bc6cfc82e33e1c89/queen-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [United Kingdom](/tag/united-kingdom/) ## United Kingdom Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The UK's Queen's Speech Delayed for Most British Reason Ever by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 12, 2017 2:37 PM CUT  Britain's Queen Elizabeth II travels from the Houses of Parliament to Buckingham Palace after the Queen addressed the State Opening of Parliament in London, England on May 18, 2016. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II travels from the Houses of Parliament to Buckingham Palace after the Queen addressed the State Opening of Parliament in London, England on May 18, 2016.Tolga Akmen—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 12, 2017 2:37 PM CUT [The Queen’s](http://www.extracrispy.com/food/2254/the-queen-eats-breakfast-before-breakfast "undefined") Speech, which outlines legislative priorities for the [British government](http://time.com/4584575/british-government-cake-brexit/ "undefined") in the coming year, has reportedly been delayed in part by the arcane tradition of writing it on thick goatskin parchment. British media reported that the speech would not go ahead as planned on June 19, in a bid to give Prime Minister Theresa May’s [Conservative Party](http://time.com/4393122/ken-clarke-malcolm-rifkind-hot-mic-boris-theresa-may-andrea-gove/ "undefined") time to make a coalition deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), after May’s party lost its parliamentary majority in last week’s snap election. A government source [told the _Guardian_](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/12/no-10-refuses-to-confirm-queens-speech-will-go-ahead-next-monday "undefined") that another reason for the delay is because the speech— which is usually announced by the Queen in the House of Lords (the upper house of Parliament)— is written in ink on goatskin parchment, which takes several days to dry and has to be written several days in advance. Historically, the speech would be written on vellum, which is made from actual calf-skin, with ink that would take three days to dry. Journalist Ned Donovan suggests if the practice still existed an accomplished scrivener would be able “to rub stuff out” if any changes had to be made. > [](https://twitter.com/Ned%5FDonovan/status/874237229790572544) > [](https://twitter.com/Ned%5FDonovan/status/874237964527775744) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4814539/british-queen-speech-goatskin-delay/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4814539/british-queen-speech-goatskin-delay/"},"headline":"The UK's Queen's Speech Delayed for Most British Reason Ever","datePublished":"2017-06-12T14:37:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:44:24.309Z","description":"It involves goatskin","url":"https://time.com/4814539/british-queen-speech-goatskin-delay/","keywords":["United Kingdom","Newsfeed","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta93a214a48144934/6988d138bc6cfc82e33e1c89/queen-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta93a214a48144934/6988d138bc6cfc82e33e1c89/queen-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Britain's Queen Elizabeth II travels from the Houses of Parliament to Buckingham Palace after the Queen addressed the State Opening of Parliament in London, England on May 18, 2016.","caption":"Britain's Queen Elizabeth II travels from the Houses of Parliament to Buckingham Palace after the Queen addressed the State Opening of Parliament in London, England on May 18, 2016.","creditText":"Tolga Akmen—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/united-kingdom/","name":"United Kingdom"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4814539/british-queen-speech-goatskin-delay/","name":"The UK's Queen's Speech Delayed for Most British Reason Ever"}}]}] ```