The House of Commons and the House of Lords have been recalled today to allow MPs and peers to pay tribute to the Queen Mother.

The devolved institutions have also been recalled.

The Scottish parliament will meet at noon today, while the Welsh and Northern Ireland assemblies will meet on Thursday.

Tony Blair will lead tributes in the Commons, followed by Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy and the longest serving MP, Father of the House, Tam Dalyell.

MPs will then lead the nation in paying tribute to a Royal who lived through a politically tumultuous and turbulent, even some would say terrible, 20th century.

In the Lords, Lord Williams of Mostyn will lead peers' tributes, followed by Conservative leader of the Lords, Lord Strathclyde.

When the Queen Mother's husband, King George VI, died in February 1952, parliament was already sitting and a day was set aside to enable MPs and peers to pay tributes.

Wednesday will be the fourth time Westminster has been recalled in the last seven months, with peers and MPs returning three times in the wake of September 11's terrorist attacks on the US. In the decades following the Second World War there were only 17 recalls.