Queen’s Life Guard at Buckingham Palace

Queen’s Guard at Buckingham Palace

On our last full day in London, we decided to explore further west in London than we had been before. We took the tube to Green Park station, with the intent of stretching our legs for the day in a bit of green space. We arrived during the changing of the guard, but not near early enough to get a good view of it. Most of my photos show only the tops of the Queen’s Guard furry shakos bouncing above the intervening throng. We were lucky to catch a good view of the Queen’s Life Guard as they cantered to Buckingham Palace.

The next day, while riding the Heathrow express, Anne sat next to a woman whose husband had been in the Queen’s Guard. She was on her way to greet him at Heathrow. The Queen’s Guard is famous for its ability to stand motionless at attention, in the face of countless distractions from annoying tourists like myself. In the Guard, he had received training on how to stand motionless for hours. He was allowed to wiggle his toes to increase circulation, because that movement couldn’t be seen within his boots. Apparently, the Guard members like to prank each other. One unfortunate guardsmen had an alarm clock secreted beneath the lining of his busby. All his mates must have been eagerly waiting and watching to see if he would twitch when it went off.