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It was the 65th time Queen Elizabeth II had opened a new session of parliament in the course of her reign.

Each Queen's Speech she's delivered has, by definition, articulated the political interests of the governing party at the time.

But this was unlike any other.

Normally it is a given that the government will at least have a chance to introduce its programme, even if it faces a battle in the House of Commons once it does.

This time the government's ability to do even that remains very much in question.

Boris Johnson's premiership is in such a precarious position it could be toppled at any moment.

But the prime minister, implicitly at least, has an answer to that: He will deliver his plan by securing a new Commons majority at an imminent general election.

Perhaps that is why, as he listened to Her Majesty read out his government's new programme, Mr Johnson nodded along, at times with a smile on his face.

This was not so much an outline of a programme for this government, but what he hopes will be the next.

The speech was essentially a Conservative Party campaign slogan, fleshed out and wrapped in ermine.

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At their conference in Manchester a few weeks ago, the Tories' message was "Get Brexit Done: Invest in our NHS; Invest in our schools; Invest in our police".

Over just 10 minutes, the Queen set out proposed pieces of legislation that reflected precisely that aim.

There were bills necessary for Brexit on agriculture and trade, fisheries, immigration and financial services, as well as the stated intention of bringing forward a Withdrawal Agreement Bill that will be required if the UK is to leave the EU with a deal.

But on the domestic front new plans focused on their key political messages - tougher sentencing, tackling serious violence, boosting infrastructure, and improving the health service and social care.

All the while, according to the speech, ministers will be keeping a "responsible fiscal strategy" and "maintaining the sustainability of the public finances".

In the days of parliamentary debate that will follow, opposition parties will no doubt lambast the new legislative agenda as an undeliverable rehash of bills that were dropped from the last session.

On 21 or 22 October MPs are expected to vote on whether to approve the Queen's Speech.

The last time the Commons refused to pass such a vote was in 1924, when it was a King's Speech.

If the government were to lose the vote this time, it would certainly call into question its ability to command the confidence of the Commons.

But given Mr Johnson has so far lost every vote in parliament that has taken place since he became prime minister, that will be nothing new.

Critically, no matter how important the ability to command confidence is to the constitutional right to govern, failure to demonstrate that confidence in a general example like a Queen's Speech no longer automatically triggers a general election.

The 2011 Fixed-term Parliaments Act means, in order to trigger an election, a government has to lose a very specifically worded no-confidence motion - a vote on the Queen's Speech does not amount to that.

So if it were defeated on this legislative programme the government would be very seriously wounded politically, but it would be up to the opposition parties to decide whether to put it out of its misery and back an election.

If that were to happen, perhaps the pomp and pageantry of the Queen's Speech would serve to help sear the Conservative policy platform in the minds of voters.

But it may not happen.

For all Jeremy Corbyn's insistence that he wants a general election as soon as possible, the mood in his party appears to be changing.

In the coming weeks, absolutely nothing is a given.