London - The Royal guards

The Buckingham Palace, where it all happens

My fascination for London began as soon as I started learning English when I was still in elementary school. The text book my tutor used was New Concept English. It was a really popular English text book in the 80s and 90s in China. Like everything western we got in China those days, it was a couple of decades old already (first published in the 60’s). However, it was the golden standard English text book at that time. I'd bet you money that the majority of my peers in China have used that text book at some point. Anyway, it is very British, so not only did I learn British English (my tutor is somewhere crying now, I am sure, because of my heavy American accent. I was trained in proper Queen's English, but Hollywood movies hijacked my accent), but I was also exposed to all things British - history, geography, customs, etc. Through those cleverly written half-page texts, I was introduced to the great city that is London. I learned about the fire of London, the Big Ben, River Thames and above all the Queen that lives there. I saw Changing of Guards once on TV and thought it was the coolest thing. Looking back, I think it has something to do with the bright red uniforms and top black fur hats those guards sport. When I was growing up, the Chinese army uniforms were extremely boring and ugly. They were made from the cheapest of materials, no bright colors let alone fur! From that moment on, I had always wanted to watch the Changing of the Guards in person. My desire was quenched once and for all on my first trip to London.

I find this outfit quite sexy, don't you?

Trooping the Colour (I am writing about something in London, so I have to use proper English spelling – Colour instead of Color, boys and girls!)

Unbeknown to be, I arrived in London on the day of Trooping the Colour. "Trooping the Colour? What is that?" You asked. I had the same question. This obviously didn't make it to New Concept English text book. It is an annual ceremony held on the second Saturday of June to mark the official birthday of British Monarch. It is also called the Queen's birthday parade, though her real birthday is in April. This event, according to the British guy sitting next to me on the plane, is Changing of the Guards on steroids. OK, sold, I am going.

By the time I made it to my friend's place, it was already past 11 and the parade was supposed to start at 11am. People started to gather around Buckingham Palace since early morning. If there were not that many royal guards around the Palace, I think people would camp outside to secure a good spot to see the event. I wasted no time to hop on the Tube and head to Buckingham Palace. 

Sea of people but you can always spot the police

This is what I was able to see

I was greeted by mountains of people. The best spot I could find for myself was outside of the gate at St. James Park. It is the gate outside of Buckingham Palace gate. Yeah, that far out. From where I was, I could see mostly other people’s heads, shoulders and backs! Further away, there were many people trying to drape themselves on the fence to get a better view. I stood on my toes, raising my camera above my head and all I could make out were guards in red uniforms and black fur top hats standing still, waiting to leave. By that time, these guards had already done their marching and the Queen had returned to the Palace. “Lame!” I thought. Even if I came here earlier, I doubted how much more I could see. Nothing happened for a long time and I got totally bored.

The musical bunch

Fancy hats are big deals among fair English ladies. They use them at all important outdoor events.

Young Royal Guard in training

The gate in front of me opened and floods of people poured into the area in front of the gate to Buckingham Palace. Man, I guess you can never have too many gates between the royalty and commoners. I could see nothing and had no idea what was going on. I tried to ask people around me and they were mostly tourists like me and equally confused. The situation reminded me of a comic strip I saw. A person got nosebleed, and he raised his head in the middle of street trying to stop it. 10 minutes later, dozens of people stood next to him with their head raised trying to see what was going on in the sky. I was totally annoyed at this point.

The Royal Family. I showed the original zoomed photo with the cropped shot to give a perspective as to how far I was from the balcony

The Royal Air Force fly pass

Just as I was about to leave, I heard gun salute and cheering. There they were – members of the Royal family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. They were so far away that I could barely make out female from male thanks to those oversized hats. I zoomed as much as I could but still only had pictures of little ant-sized people on my photo. I gave up taking photos of them and turned my attention to the sky as the fly pass of the British Air Force started. I saw two lonely planes flew across the sky. Then came 3 of different types and the grand finale of 9 planes. “What is this?” I said to myself “This doesn’t seem that much of a solute. Blue Angels put on a better show!” Totally underwhelmed at this point, I left. 

He is looking forward to the end of the event

Household Calvary drill at Hyde Park Barracks

When I was not looking for it, I had a much closer encounter with the Household Calvary. I was walking in Hyde Park and saw people in uniforms and helmets with tassels riding in a fenced area. “Hey, this looks interesting!” I forgot what I had planned to do and headed over that direction.

Hard day at the drilling session

There were 13 people on the horses and they were divided into two groups based on the color of the tassels on their helmets. 6 with red tassels and the other 6 with golden tassels. They all wore sharp blue uniforms and rode high on handsome black horses. The 13th person was the trumpeter, with red tassel on his helmet, but proudly riding a white horse at the back of the formation. I later found out that these soldiers are a part of the Blue and Royals regiment of the British Armed Force.

There was one most important person in the fence – The drill officer. He seemed short compared to all the soldiers on horses, but he apparently commanded the whole ring. One arm behind his back, and a pair of white gloves in hand, he stood super straight. On the other hand, he held a pointing stick. He constantly used the stick to point at the person who was not doing a good job. He would yell out the next formation and those pretty horses would change from trot to gallop and from 4 lines to one line, etc. I am pretty sure what I saw was what they usually do at Changing of the Guards or Trooping the Colour. I was catching up on what I missed in a much up close and personal fashion. I stood so close to the fence, several times, I locked eyes with some horses briefly. After watching the drill for 20 minutes, I left satisfied, thinking “I will be OK, if I never see another Royal Guard.” 

The last encounter

One should never say never. On my last day in London, I somehow ended up in Buckingham Palace area and it was around 11am, the time for Changing of the Guards. Now I knew it was going to be another tourist infested event, so I avoided the Buckingham Palace area, but instead walked along the Mall, the road the guards would use to access the Palace. I got some more close up shots of the red uniforms and this time, really ready to retire from my Royal Guards chasing career.

Guards on their way to their posts

This guy left his post, walked for 5 meters to the left and then came back. I guess Changing of the Guards comes in all different sizes and shape. Some big and some small.