Calls are building to award Taylor Swift the Freedom of the City, but what does it mean – and could it make the pop star eligible for Lord Mayor? Anna Moloney explains
A call for Taylor Swift to be awarded the Freedom of the City of London has become the latest project of the PR-savvy Lib Dems, with party spokesperson Sarah Olney last week making the case for the pop star to be decorated with the ancient City award.
It comes after Swift wrapped up the London leg of her Eras Tour last Tuesday with an eighth night in Wembley, making her the first solo artist to play the stadium so many times in a single tour and overtaking the record set by Michael Jackson in 1988. According to Olney, however, Swift’s “real legacy” has been economic, with the tour thought to have generated £300m for London, along with another £1bn boost for the British economy as a whole. “It is only right that she be recognised with London’s highest honour,” Olney said.
So what is the Freedom of the City and can an American pop star qualify?
What is the Freedom of the City?
Dating from around 1237, the Freedom of the City started as a way to reflect the status of a “free man” protected by the charter of the City of London, as opposed to a man under the jurisdiction of a feudal lord. Such men could enjoy much-loved City privileges, such as making money and owning land. Through the Middle Ages this evolved into the right to trade in the Square Mile (with the Freedom awarded to members of guilds and liveries); by the Victorians the award was opened up to include people living or working in the City more broadly; and by the year of our lord 2024 the net has been cast so wide that it can now also include country singers from Nashville – provided they have been nominated by two members of the City of London Corporation of two members of a City livery company.
Does Taylor Swift qualify?
Luckily, Corporation chairman (and City A.M. columnist) Chris Hayward has already expressed he is open to welcoming Ms Swift into the fold – “we have no doubt that she would have the best day in the City of London!” – and we reckon there must be at least one other Square Mile Swiftie with sway.
There is a long-standing history of admitting women (previously called free sisters) and the award was extended from Commonwealth citizens to persons of any nationality in 1996.
If successful, Swift will be required to attend a ceremony at Guildhall, where she will be admitted as a freeman and empowered with an enviable list of City privileges, including the right to herd sheep across London Bridge.
The next Lord Mayor?
Even better, the Freedom would clear Ms Swift of the first hurdle for becoming Lord Mayor – the natural next step up from international stardom – with all Lord Mayors required to be aldermen, and thus freemen, first. Swift would be a notable Lord Mayor not just for being a global pop star, but also for being a woman, with there so far having been only two female Lord Mayors, out of 695.