Changing of the guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Changing of the guard ceremony in England

Photo: voices.nationalgeographic.com

Guardsmen have been guarding British monarchs for many centuries - ever since the days when they fought shoulder to shoulder with them. Today they protect the royal residences and are considered the symbol of the United Kingdom. How the guardsmen are on guard, what they are forbidden to do during the service and who can join their ranks - the portal "ZagraNitsa" learned all the most interesting about the Royal Guard of Great Britain

The Royal Guard is the guard of the royal family, which is subordinate to the Ministry of Defense. It consists of five infantry regiments and two cavalry. The foot guards wear red uniforms and black caps. You can distinguish the shelves by the location of the buttons on the clothes and the color of the cockade on the cap (the Scottish regiments do not have it at all).

Infantry guards guard around the clock, other royal residences, as well as the royal regalia's vault. Horse guardsmen are on guard only in the daytime. Moreover, every hour the soldiers replace each other, since a horse cannot stand still for more than an hour.

The most distinctive piece of the guardsmen's uniform is a black bearskin hat. Last years animal advocates are organizing actions to reach out to the government to replace the bear's fur with fake fur. The design of the hats was even going to be developed by British couturier Stella McCartney, however, in favor of natural fur, the government argues that, unlike artificial fur, it does not deteriorate in any weather. Animal activists are constantly paying attention to this problem, but so far the authorities have not agreed to redesign the uniform.

Changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace takes place from April to July daily at 11:30 am, in other months - every other day.

During the service, the soldiers of the royal guard do not even have the right to enter into dialogue with each other. Due to the warm uniforms, and especially the cap, which weighs about three kilograms, the guardsmen often faint. In such cases, they cannot even help their colleagues, since the duty of the soldiers is to stand still.

Only the best soldiers of the British Army can become a Guardsman. Such service is contractual, but soldiers receive modest money for it - from £ 800 a month, depending on the length of service.

Changing of the Guard ritual of the Royal Guard, founded in 1660. Along with the ceremony of carrying the banner and the Queen's visit to Parliament, it is considered one of the oldest and most vibrant traditions in Britain. Conducted invariably for several centuries, in summer time performed daily, in winter - every other day.

Changing of the guard is traditionally performed at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. During the ceremony, a detachment of guardsmen, dressed in smart red uniforms and bear hats, marches to the music of a military band to the square in front of the gate of the residence. In cold weather, the guards are dressed in gray coats. Here, in front of the Queen Victoria Memorial, the new guards are handed symbolic keys to the palace. The whole process takes about 45 minutes.

Along with the solemn changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, one can observe the less formal ceremony of the return of the guards to St James's Palace. The changing of the guard at Windsor Castle follows a similar scenario, it is performed on the parade ground of the castle.

Changing of the guard on the map

Type: Events, Holidays Address: 47 Dartmoor Drive, Huntingdon, Cambs PE 29 6XT, UK. Opening hours: in May-July every day, in August-April - every other day. Departure of the guards from St. James's Palace at 11.00, solemn changing of the guard in front of Buckinghams Palace at 11.30; changing of the guard at Windsor Castle at 11:00 (except Sunday). Cost: free. How to get there: travel to Victoria Station, Green Park metro stations. Site.

Probably everyone who somehow ends up in London is eager to see this famous ceremony. The Thomas Cook travel guide even calls it the best free show in town. That’s just it, that it’s free - and besides, it’s also colorful, with musical accompaniment, not too long and runs at a convenient time: you don’t have to get up a little light and get to the place at rush hour.

What is the ceremony? The new guard replaces the old guard guarding the Queen at Buckingham Palace. In addition, the guard of St. James's Palace is replaced, which arrives for this at Buckingham Palace. One change of the guard lasts 24 hours, respectively, it changes once a day. True, the solemn ceremony does not take place every day: most of the year - every other day.

At the beginning of twelve, the guard leaves St. James's Palace and march towards Buckingham Palace, arriving at about 11:15 am.

By that time, quite a lot of people gather at Buckingham Palace, wanting to gawk at the ceremony. The people are located around the entire circumference of the square, the most advantageous places are near the palace itself, there in tourist season a whole crowd gathers.

The square is patrolled by the police, which prevents gazes from leaving the sidewalks and interfering with the ceremony. Paradoxical as it may seem, the police are essentially guarding the guard!

To the sounds of a percussion band, a guard from St James's Palace arrives and marches to Buckingham Palace. He then walks into the outer courtyard of the palace and stands next to the old guard at Buckingham Palace, waiting for the new guard, which is marching from the Wellington barracks located nearby.

A new guard approaches and enters the courtyard of the palace, still accompanied by the police (but the police no longer enter the courtyard, their task is to control people on the square).

Then, at about 11:30, the changing of the guard begins; keys are transferred; to the sounds of the orchestra, a parade march takes place, first of the new guard, then of the old guard.

At the very beginning of the first, the old, serving changing of the guard returns to Wellington Barracks (see photo below). And the new guard of St. James's Palace is moving towards St. James's Palace.

This is, of course, a general description. In fact, there are more elements-stages of the ceremony, but it is impossible to see them all on one day.

I will not say, of course, that the changing of the guard directly produces such a wow effect, but it is worth looking at if possible.

Reference Information:

• Location: near Buckingham Palace. But, by the way, the changing of the guard takes place at Windsor Castle.
• Nearest metro stations: Green Park, St James's Park.
• Time spending: 11:30 am (at Windsor Castle - 11:00 am). Naturally, it is better to come before that time.
• Carrying out frequency: daily from May to July; every other day from August to April. Current schedule you can see. In bad weather (heavy rain, for example), the ceremony is canceled.
• Visit cost: is free.
• Additional Information:

While I was living in London, I went to the changing of the guard several times, but I saw the whole ceremony from start to finish only twice. The first time was a year ago, when I went to look nearby Royal stables, museums of the Royal and Horse Guards. And just recently I flew to London again and purposefully went to the changing of the guard ceremony. A year ago, I do not know why the sound in the camera was turned off and the most interesting thing - the video - did not work for me. And last week I went to Buckingham Palace itself, and to Royal Gallery, and came early on purpose to catch the full changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.

I could not do without overlays. I knew that from May to July the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace takes place every day at 11:30, and from August to April every other day. I specially looked at the Buckingham Palace website for the schedule, according to which days goes change in September. It turned out that on even days. And so, on Tuesday, when I was in London, at about 11 am I came to the gates of Buckingham Palace, saw quite a lot of people and found such an advertisement there.

It turns out that I got confused about the dates - Tuesday was the 23rd! But, whatever is done is for the best. But I went to the ticket office and got tickets for the next day to both Buckingham Palace and the Royal Gallery. It's good that I flew to London for 2 days. You can get to Buckingham Palace only two months a year and there are a lot of people who want to, so it's not always possible to get tickets on the same day. And so I was already with tickets for a specific time on Wednesday, and on Tuesday.

The elite army of the British Royal Guard was created in the late 17th century by King Henry VII of England. He was the father of the very same Henry VIII, about whose love we learned later. The first royal palace to be guarded by horse guards was Whitehall. The royal court was then moved to St James's Palace, and with it the changing of the guard ceremony. And when, in 1837, Queen Victoria chose the neighboring Buckingham Palace as the place of her royal residence, the royal guard remained in St James's Palace, but Buckingham Palace began to guard too. And he does it to this day, demonstrating to tourists the most beautiful changing of the guard ritual in Great Britain. Moreover, if you notice an English flag above Buckingham Palace, it means that at this moment the Queen of England is in the palace, and the number of guards is increasing.

What is the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace? On the days of the changing of the guard, the “old” composition of the guards, which is on duty, gathers in the courtyard of Buckingham Palace and is replaced by “new” soldiers who come from the Wellington barracks, accompanied by a military band. There is a formal transfer of responsibility for the protection of the royal court. Near the Wellington Barracks there is the Royal Guard Museum, which is also interesting to go there.

To get to the changing of the guard ceremony in London, you need to arrive early. V good weather- it is better to be in place at 10.45. So you can borrow good places and see the whole ceremony. I must say right away that you will not be able to see the ENTIRE ceremony from beginning to end. There are so many people gathering that it will be possible either to see how the guardsmen come and go from the palace, or to look at what is happening in the courtyard behind the fence. You simply will not see both, because the people will not let you in and will tenaciously hold on to their places near the fence 🙂 The maximum that you will see if you do not work with your elbows will be this:

All this onslaught is restrained by the policemen, sometimes rather rudely shouting: “So, let's pass, we don't linger, you can't stand here!”.

Many are taking up space on the Victoria Monument, which is also called “birthday cake”. People climb higher and watch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace from above.

The "old" and "new" guards come from 2 different locations: from St James's Palace and from Wellington Barracks. They gather there at about 11 o'clock in the morning, solemnly walk to Buckingham Palace, and at 11:30 the ceremony of changing the guard at Buckingham Palace begins, which lasts about 45 minutes. Sometimes, due to very bad weather, the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace may be canceled, and the decision to cancel is announced literally 15 minutes before the scheduled start.

So, how things are going. At 11 am a detachment of "old" guards gathers in front of St. James's Palace. After checking, this squad heads to Buckingham Palace along The Mall. In front of the detachment is a group of military orchestra. The Queen of England also has an equestrian quarter.

At the same time, in front of Buckingham Palace, a detachment of "old" guardsmen who are guarding Buckingham Palace are lining up, and are also being inspected. The “old” change of guards in full force is awaiting the arrival of the “new” guards.

The “new” guardsmen gather near the Wellington barracks and by 11.30 am they walk to Buckingham Palace, accompanied by a military band.

In the courtyard of Buckingham Palace, the "old" guards exchange salutes with the "new" ones and solemnly hand over the keys to the palace. The Royal Military Band performs a musical program. All of this can be seen if you stand right at the grating that surrounds Buckingham Palace. The music is actually very beautiful - both classical and modern compositions sound.

At about 12.05 pm the music program ends and the "old" squad prepares to leave Buckingham Palace with the orchestra through the central gate. He heads to Wellington Barracks to rest. Police officers are also present on the territory of Buckingham Yard.

Also, the process is watched by police officers on horseback and even from a helicopter.

The "new" guards are divided into 2 groups: one goes to guard St James's Palace, and the second remains to guard Buckingham Palace.

After the ceremony of changing the guard at Buckingham Palace, the people gradually disperse. If Buckingham Palace itself is closed to the public, you can go see the Royal Mews, the Royal Gallery and the Royal Guard Museum. It is also interesting to see not only the changing of the guard in London, but also at Windsor Castle. All these sights of London are included in the list of attractions with which you can significantly save money.

Have you ever seen the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace?

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Great Britain is a country to be proud of. Tower of London, Sherwood Forest, Piccadilly Street, Stonehenge, Trafalgar Square and many other attractions remain in the hearts and memory of tourists for a long time. Not the least on this list is Buckingham Palace in London. The building is not only famous place England, but also its symbol. And it really has every right to bear such a responsible title.

Until there was a palace

Buckingham Palace, like the Vatican, is a kind of state within a state that has its own swimming pool, post office, a huge cinema, hospital and gym. It all began not so long ago, in the 17th century. The plot of land on which the royal residence is located today, until the beginning of the 17th century, belonged to monarchs. During the reign of James I, silkworms were grown here, and therefore the entire plantation was planted with mulberries. In 1628, the garden was donated to Lord Aston by Charles I. For the next 70 years, whoever owned this site... It was only in 1698 that John Sheffield, the future Duke of Buckingham, became the sole owner of the piece of land that had turned into an area of ​​amazing beauty. All the buildings in the garden were demolished by Sheffield. He began the construction of Buckingham Palace, which was then called Buckingham House. The entire construction project was worth seven thousand pounds, and its creators were the developer William Talman and the architect John Fitch.

In 1761, George III bought the estate, in which he created a private family-type residence for his wife, Queen Charlotte, and their offspring. The estate acquired the name "Queen's House". From 1762 to 1776, William Chambers undertook a number of robot reconstruction. He also took up the modernization of the building. It cost 73 thousand pounds. The best craftsmen of that era were involved in decorating the interior of the palace. So, the development and painting of ceilings were carried out by Robert Adam and Giovanni Battista Chapriani, respectively.

Become Buckingham Palace

Start 19th century was the start for creating a completely new royal palace... Even then, there were plans for this construction. But as soon as George IV, the heir to George III, took the throne, he refused to translate the fairy tale into reality. King George IV had already reached the age of 60, he was sick and, moreover, he was overweight. Life in the "Queen's House" reminded him of his childhood, and he wished to turn the estate into his palace. John Nash was named the Official Architect in charge of all work. It took five years for the Queen's House to be transformed into a massive U-shaped building. It became known as Buckingham Palace.

John has created a truly masterpiece. He made the front of the house wider and added two wings that were directed to the east. Contemporaries unanimously claim that the architect did a tremendous job, but they also insist that Buckingham Palace in London was too expensive. By the end of the 20s of the XIX century, John had spent 500 thousand pounds on the reconstruction of the building. When George IV passed away, the Duke of Wellington, Prime Minister of Great Britain, removed John Nash from his post, motivating this with an unreasonable financial waste of the builder. Edward Blore was appointed as the new professional. He widened the eastern facade on one side and the other, and built a new entrance from the southern one, which was called the Entrance of the Ambassadors. By the beginning of 1834, under the leadership of this man, the construction of the state rooms was completed.

New construction works

Eight years after her coronation, Queen Victoria realized that Buckingham Palace did not have enough space to rest and stay. She reported this to Robert Peel, her prime minister. Edward Blore was tasked with developing a plan for the construction of another wing on the east side. In 1846, construction work was financed with the money raised from the sale of the Royal Pavilion in Brighton (53 thousand pounds). On the main new façade, a central balcony was erected that Prince Albert had dreamed of. From there, Queen Victoria watched her troops going to the Crimean War. It was at the same place that she greeted them when they returned.

XIX and XX centuries in the life of Buckingham Palace

At the beginning of the 1850s, the architect James Pennethorn completed the decoration of the rooms that were connected by galleries with the state apartments of John Nash in the southern part of the palace. The new premises were made in a Renaissance style.

In 1901, King Edward VII became the king of England. During this period, the interior of Buckingham Palace began to be considered outdated and did not meet the standards of the time. In this regard, the monarch began a quick restoration of the estate. Improvements have been made to the ventilation, heating and electric lighting systems. The main shades for the new design were gold and white. This interior still exists today in the Ballroom and many other government rooms.

Buckingham Palace, the one for which it is known today, took its appearance for ten years after the departure of Queen Victoria to another world. In 1911, the area in front of the building's façade was covered with gravel. A beautiful iron fence with gates made of bronze was installed around the entire building. Was given its place of honor and the statue of the queen. And in 1913, the eastern facade of the castle was completely redesigned. A gray Portland stone was chosen as the material for it.

Picture gallery and rooms

The Duke of Edinburgh initiated the creation of a public gallery for the royal art exhibition. During the hostilities of the Second World War, the Private Chapel was turned into ruins. In its place, the royal art gallery appeared. In 2002, it was completely renovated and expanded.

With over 700 rooms, Buckingham Palace is truly an impressive building. It has 52 bedrooms for members of the royal family and his guests, 188 bedrooms for staff, 78 bathrooms and 52 office spaces. The most popular and world famous room is the balcony, where the royal couple stay during festive and special events.

Buckingham Palace, whose address is Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1A 1AA, UK, receives from 30 to 50 thousand tourists every year. And this number is constantly growing.

Buckingham Palace guard

There is another tradition that many seek to see. This is a theatrical action of indescribable beauty. The changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace takes place daily in the summer and every other day in the winter. The action is rehearsed to the very small parts, even such as turning the head. It all starts at 11.30 and lasts 45 minutes. The tradition of this ritual began in 1660, when it was decided that only the guards of the royal court had the right to carry the guard near the palaces of the English monarchs.

Sentries from the guard

The captain is in command of the Royal Guard. The lieutenant is in charge of each squad. The second lieutenant carries the battalion's banner. One guard includes 36 soldiers and three officers. During their stay in the Queen's palace, four sentries are stationed near the main entrance. In her absence, their number is reduced to two. The sentries are on duty for two hours. For rest, they are given twice as much. They do not stand in the same place for more than ten minutes, since they have the right to walk in front of the booth.

How it goes

The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace takes place between the Palaces of St. James and Buckingham and Wellington Barracks. At its core, the whole process is the replacement of old guards with new ones. At 11.00, the old guard is being built near the Palace of St. James, then it passes along The Mall (at 11.15), at this time it is accompanied by the regimental band, and makes its way to Buckingham Palace. On the square on the right side of the residence, Buckingham's old guard takes its place. The guards of St. James's Palace enter through the south gate and stand on the left side of the square. At 11.10 a new guard begins a march to Buckingham Palace from Wellington Barracks. He is also accompanied by his own orchestra.

At about half past eleven, a new guard enters the square through the northern gate and stands in line in front of the old guard. Its captain, performing all the ceremonies, hands over the keys to the Palace to the new captain. The old guard goes to the barracks to rest. The Buckingham Palace guards take up their positions, while the St James Palace guards march towards the duty station.

For travelers

A visit to Buckingham Palace is possible only when Her Royal Majesty is absent from it. This always happens throughout August and September. Tourists at this time can inspect 19 rooms, among which there is a ballroom and an art gallery. A ticket for a tour will cost only 14 euros. The visit program includes a tour of the richly furnished royal halls and chambers. In the halls today, the Queen receives the first persons of different states, it is also possible to visit the music room, in which the royal children are baptized with Jordanian water.

Queen's seat in the palace and Great Britain

In 1837, Buckingham Palace was officially declared the royal residence. Queen Victoria just ascended the throne at this time. But today the royal personage in Great Britain has practically no power. She is simply a symbol of the state, its representative. But not a single person in England, Scotland or Ireland, even in his thoughts, admits that the royal family should sink into oblivion. On the contrary, the queen and her huge family should exist, sit on the throne, and the population of the country will serve her and pay taxes for the maintenance of the entire family and the palace. When Her Majesty is at Buckingham Castle, the royal flag is flown over it. Here she is ten months of the year, with the exception of August and September. But at any time, the lady can interrupt her vacation and return to Buckingham Palace.

Royal stables

England (Buckingham Palace) is also famous for its stables, family-owned monarchs. They are on the left side of the residence. The premises for them were built in 1825 by the same John Nash. Today you can see strollers, cars, carriages and equipment here. All this is actively used today. The stable has a Glass Carriage and the main Golden Royal Carriage. Diana and the Prince of Wales rode down the aisle in glass vehicles. The stable is home to approximately 30 horses of various breeds.

When visiting the British capital, be sure to check out the palace, where real kings have lived for centuries.