# British Army Regiment doing the official state functions--Coldstream Guards? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 2012, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-regiment-doing-the-official-state-functions-coldstream-guards/620294 "2012-04-29T03:00:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-regiment-doing-the-official-state-functions-coldstream-guards/620294/1 "2012-04-29T03:00:18Z")
My wife was flipping channels, and came across a rebroadcast of last year’s royal wedding (I forget who got married). Anyway, in all the pageantry, I saw the “redcoats” of the state formal dress. Now I’ve met the Mercians, the 5 SCOTS, and even a couple of Gurkhas and Royal Engineers. But is it a _full time_ job for a particular Regiment to be doing those official state functions? What unit does the changing of the colors at Buckingham Palace. . . the same Regiment? Through some looking around, I came up with a possibility of the Coldstream Guards; is it them? And are they the Regiment dedicated to state functions? Tripler I’m just a Yankee. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-regiment-doing-the-official-state-functions-coldstream-guards/620294/2 "2012-04-29T04:09:19Z")
[Queen’s Guard.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen%27s_Guard) ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-regiment-doing-the-official-state-functions-coldstream-guards/620294/3 "2012-04-29T04:41:31Z")
Aaaaahhhhh. Thanks! Tripler … I was close. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-regiment-doing-the-official-state-functions-coldstream-guards/620294/4 "2012-04-29T10:30:10Z")
The Guard’s regiments (I’m talking about the foot soldiers here with the bear skin hats rather than the mounted regiments) comprise 5 different regiments: The Coldstream Guards The Grenadier Guards The Irish Guards The Scots Guards & the Welsh Guards. Only part of their duties are royal guarding duties, the rest of the time they are infantry regiments who do the same tours of war zones as any other regiment. They are highly prestigious regiments, as you would imagine with such fancy pants uniforms, and I believe are quite difficult to get into. Prince William wore the uniform of the Irish Guards for his wedding, as he was made honorary Colonel In Chief of the regiment by his gran. The other royal guards (with even better uniforms) are the mounted Household Cavalry, comprising the [Blues and Royals](http://www.visualphotos.com/image/1x6594313/mounted_soldiers_from_the_blues_and_royals) regiment and the [Life Guards](http://www.army.mod.uk/armoured/regiments/5891.aspx) Regiment (the senior regiment in the British Army). When not on ceremonial duty, they are active tank regiments, doing frequent stints in afghanistan. Prince Harry is a member of the Blues and Royals, hence his dark blue uniform at the wedding. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-regiment-doing-the-official-state-functions-coldstream-guards/620294/5 "2012-04-29T15:30:33Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > The Guard’s regiments (I’m talking about the foot soldiers here with the bear skin hats rather than the mounted regiments) comprise 5 different regiments: > > The Coldstream Guards > The Grenadier Guards > The Irish Guards > The Scots Guards & > the Welsh Guards. > > Only part of their duties are royal guarding duties, the rest of the time they are infantry regiments who do the same tours of war zones as any other regiment. That’s damn cool, and I give them a lot of respect for that reason–they pull the same share of the weight as the other line regiments. > [@SanVito](#): > > They are highly prestigious regiments, as you would imagine with such fancy pants uniforms, and I believe are quite difficult to get into. > > Prince William wore the uniform of the Irish Guards for his wedding, as he was made honorary Colonel In Chief of the regiment by his gran. So how does _that_ work?!?? “My Grandma knows a guy, so I got brevetted in another organization. . .”? Does this happen often for royals? Both brevetting and personal appointments happened fairly common in the US Civil War (compared to now–damn near nonexistent); when a State or community would raise the ‘XXth Volunteers of Infantry’, they’d appoint a young man to the rank of Colonel sometimes with no formal military training, and just because he was a member of a family well known by the community leadership. That person could be started at the rank of Lieutenant, and for various reasons (attition of higher leadership, personal achievement, etc.) they would be [brevetted](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brevet_%28military%29) to a higher rank based off of the authority of the person authorizing the promotion–that’s why [George Custer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Custer) did so well. Now, I’m not certainly not going to stand toe-to-toe with the Queen of the United Kingdom, but does William’s apparent promotion actually carry any legitimate weight, or was it a brevet rank for the purposes of the wedding? Tripler It’s not like I’m going to see Col. Harry running a Battalion in the the near future, am I? ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-regiment-doing-the-official-state-functions-coldstream-guards/620294/6 "2012-04-29T16:14:25Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > It’s not like I’m going to see Col. Harry running a Battalion in the the near future, am I? Well, he might, but not through being [Colonel-in-Chief,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel-in-Chief) which is a ceremonial, honorary position. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-regiment-doing-the-official-state-functions-coldstream-guards/620294/7 "2012-04-29T17:40:01Z")
Taking a turn as Public Duties Battalion is fairly unpopular, involving a good deal of spit-and-polish and some pretty dull duty. However if you join the Household Division you can expect it at some time. Other regiments have done it from time to time, and even the Home Guard in WW2. Repelling moronic tourists who think it is cute to stand too close is the not only distraction though, you also have to keep an eye out for nutters who think that if they could only get to talk to the Queen it would solve their problem. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-regiment-doing-the-official-state-functions-coldstream-guards/620294/8 "2012-04-29T19:49:52Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > Other regiments have done it from time to time, and even the Home Guard in WW2. Looking this up, it looks like various Commonwealth Realms take a turn at the ceremonial/guarding stuff too. Interestingly, Malaysia did a turn in 2008, and the Queen isn’t even their head of state.