Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Sir Lindsay said on Tuesday: "There is no wig as yet. They offered it to Michael Martin and he said 'no'. God knows where it went.

"It looks like it could be lost. The thing is if it has not been used since Michael Martin started - 2000 - I dread to think what condition it is in. Probably moth-eaten, or maybe in a museum somewhere. We will wait and see."

Sir Lindsay said that he would be wearing the traditional robe and court dress for the State Opening. "I will have to wear what is available," he said.

Asked if he were wearing a wig he added: "There is not even a wig in the House. We won't rule it out but for the State Opening I will have to wear what is available."

Sir Lindsay made clear he wanted to bring back traditional dress to the role after his predecessor John Bercow had dressed down as Speaker.

Asked if he would return to wearing the wig as Speaker, Sir Lindsay said last month: "On traditional days, of course. You have to wear dress that is suitable for that day."

The return of the wig to the Commons' chamber was heralded yesterday when John Benger, the Clerk of the House of Commons, wore his bench wig in his chair in front of the Speakers' chair.

Mr Bercow had previously ruled in Feb 2017 that wigs will no longer be worn by parliamentary officials in the Commons in a bid to end its ‘stuffy’ public image.

The fate of the Speaker's wig might have gone to the grave with Lord Martin of Springburn who quit as Speaker in 2009 and died last year.