To understand how ancient this is, the Worshipful Company of Carmen's history began in 1272.
For US audiences, this operated as something like the DMV, hundreds of years before anyone had thought of such a thing. Over time obviously, these functions were taken over by a national government agency, but as the Worshipful Company of Carmen had had hundreds of years of history until that point, the traditions were kept in ceremonial form.
The whole area of this place is very interesting from a governmental perspective. You got the City of London which has its own governing and even police, and you got an area called Temple which also has its own powers historically.
This just had me reading about Livery Companies of the City of London for an hour. It's great that some history and traditions are kept alive. And now I can walk around the City and keep an eye out for their coats of arms on the buildings.
> The range of vehicles can be anything from a Smithfield meat cart to old wagons, steam engines, and buses to the very latest in electric cars and lorries. It’s a very eclectic mix.
For every anachronistic ritual there is always some simpleton who believes it to still be legally important. I give it about a week until one of the "freemen" idiots gets ticketed for using a soldering iron to create his own wooden license plates.
I've been involved in a few Livery Company/City things, and I've never met someone like this. Some livery companies still have a strong connection to their trades and some do still even retain regulatory roles - for example the Scriveners and the Farriers.
Mostly the people who are involved view these things as a combination of a fun day out with the opportunity to meet interesting people and support some form of charitable cause (the older Livery Companies these days are effectively large charitable foundations).
There was quite a good documentary series about the City including the Livery Companies a few years ago called Stephen Fry's Key to the City (you might be able to find some of it on YouTube) - I'm not usually a fan of his but it actually gave a very good insight into it all.
Search youtube for "sovereign citizen". There are thousands out there who are obsessed with license plate issues, people who believe they can issue their own plates because "government" doesn't really exist or that all plates need to be signed with quill and ink. These people will latch onto any old ritual or tradition to justify their warped views.
For US audiences, this operated as something like the DMV, hundreds of years before anyone had thought of such a thing. Over time obviously, these functions were taken over by a national government agency, but as the Worshipful Company of Carmen had had hundreds of years of history until that point, the traditions were kept in ceremonial form.