I saw this today for the first time since I was about 3 years old. With my son who’s about three years old. I don’t plan to bother for about another 35 years, and doubt my son will either. But to the question…
Any number of websites will tell me that this ceremony involves the changing of the guard, and that it is on at 11.30, and the nearest tube station is Victoria and so on. But none actually tell me what the hell it’s all about.
These guys arrive. They stomp about. Then they stand still and a guy with a sword who walks like a cross between a rooster and an aerobics instructor in heavy boots yells a lot. He bounces and struts and stomps a few steps one way in a deliberate fashion. He yells. He turns and stomps a few steps the other way. Yells a bit. He does silly walks.
This sort of thing continues for some time.
Some other guys stomp over to a couple of other guys. Four guys (who came in together) check one anothers little cards of some sort (they don’t know who each other are already?). They inspect a clipboard in a showy way.
A couple of guys with a flag walk over to a gate. Then turn around and walk back. A couple of guys stomp over to the little guard house and make a big show of peering into it. They walk off.
This has all taken about half an hour. No actual guards have been changed to this point.
Finally three guys go over to one of the guys who is actually guarding. One gets out a clipboard again. He checks out the little guard house again (the earlier guys were incompetent or what?). One of the new guys goes over to one of the guys actually guarding and stands next to him. They get yelled at. The old guy leaves with the other two new guys.
I may have missed some bits. Actually I have missed some bits. The whole thing would take longer to describe than I have.
What’s going on here? OK, sarcasm aside, obviously it’s all ceremonial and symbolic and representative and all that, but what is the ceremony, what’s it symbolic of, what is going on at each stage?
A military guard is mounted on Buckingham Palace at all times, although there are more guards when the Queen is “in residence”.
The “Changing of the Guards” is an end-of-shift handover when the Old Guard is replaced by the New Guard, suitably embellished to make it a piece of ceremonial.
The full ceremony is described in this handbook, which is advertised as the Authorative Guide - with profits going to the Army Benevolent Fund.
This site gives a blow-by-blow of the structure of the ceremony, but does not explain the details such as inspecting the inside of the sentry-boxes.
My WAG would be that when the Officer of the New Guard accepts the handover he is also accepting responsibility for all the shared kit - and he is not going to sign for anything until he has seen it.
Likewise, the Officer of the Old Guard does not want to be caught out, so he checks that everything he signed for is still there. (sentry box - grey - one of)
In business, as well as in the military, it is considered good practice not to sign for anything “in a poke”.
IIRC there was an old BBC documentary which dealt with the fine detail, such as the junior officers of each guard pairing up and strolling around the grounds. Unfortunately I cannot recall the specifics, but the guard has been provided by many units, not just the Guards, and perhaps there is some Doper who has personal experience?
In the second link that johncole posted, there appears to be a dog. Wearing the same type of jacket as the guards. Am I imagining things?
Also, since I’m already hijacking the thread - do the guards actually…guard? Are they basically the palace’s security team? Because I can’t imagine that, uniform-wise, they’ve picked the most efficient method…
Looks like a dog to me. They don’t have a dog every time – they didn’t the one time I was there.
They don’t do a very good job of guarding St. James palace – both the old and new contingents for St. James are together at Buckingham Palace for about half an hour, according to the link posted above.
If you want to see something really impressive, check out the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan. They change the guard every hour. Bright, shiny helmets and a whole load of foot stomping and banging of rifle butts on the ground, spinning rifles round in the air - it’s like ballet. And you can stand right next to them and photograph it.
A total waste of taxpayers’ money, of course, like Buck House…
As far as I’m aware the Guards are carrying loaded weapons. However, I think it’s a safe bet that there are plenty of discreet Secret Service agents in and outside the palace, as well as covert surveillance.
The son of my brother’s godmother was in the Horseguards and stood (actually rode) guard. His biggest problem was people sticking coins in his boots. It’s very difficult to be so still for so long.
Actually the Guards do not have live ammunition or blanks in their magazines. The proper security of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Catstle is done by both the Police and the Guards. The soldiers take turns doing ceremonial duty and patrolling out of the public eye with weapons.
With all the security breaches I have read about, I’m ashamed to admit that I did training with the Junior Leaders Company of the Grenadier Guards in 1985-1986. I was only 15 and 16, and I’m glad I got out when I did.
I also liked the old 7.62mm SLR (longer) rifles rather than the 5.56mm SA-80s (short) ones that were being phased in just as I left. The longer ones look better for ceremonial duties.
With that said, there are more (or at least were, when I was last interested) more ex-Guards in the S.A.S. than from any other regiment in the British Army. In fact, 22 SAS used to have “G” division comprised of ex Guardsmen.
