Queen's Guards: Insider's Edition.

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They are the real deal.




http://boingboing.net/2015/06/29/heres- ... you-2.html

Next time someone messes with you, you know what to do

I think I recall that the Queen's Guard are active duty servicemen who serve in the Guard on a rotation. So it would not be unusual that a month ago these men were bravely facing fire on the front lines in Afghanistan or the like. Accordingly I was miffed that this impertinent youth was so disrespectful. I would not have been disappointed had he received a proper ear-boxing.

To me it is funny. It's like, the guard had enough of people's bs and decides to do something about it but I am sure it was a front just to get the guy to go away. He wasn't serious or anything. I wish to do the same if someone annoys me. Imagine how less annoyance in the world there would be if everyone reacted like him.

You are quite correct. This is a Guardsman of the Scots Guards, a regiment I served in many years ago. Here he is on duty at Windsor Castle. There were always incidents like this, although thankfully not too frequent, and he was entitled to respond the way he did. We were also asked silly questions by tourists. I remember once being stopped by an American couple (no disrespect) who pointed at a low-flying airliner passing overhead (Windsor is very near Heathrow), and asked me why they built the castle so close to the airport ...

Check out this video of a palace guard relieving himself of boredom!

Hmm interesting. I had no idea a wp member was once a guard. Sometimes, it does seem like it would be kind of boring just staring while standing for ...how frequent are shifts? I admire them for putting up with so much from others.

I agree. I have seen this video posted elsewhere and captioned "...points gun at boy...", which of course is total bs to anyone with two eyes and half a brain. He simply unshouldered it.

I have since read that to prevent future tourist misbehavior of this sort, they have now installed a rope line to keep the hoi polloi in place.

To me it didn't even seem serious. I thought the guard was kidding. Keep in mind, the guard doesn't know what the man has in mind. He just wanted him to back off. I don't blame him.

Sentry duty is done by Guardsman (i.e: Privates) in 2 hour shifts with a minimum of 4 hours rest in between. At least that was the rule while I was serving. They don't actually stand stock still for the whole 2 hours, they have a beat that they march along periodically, partly to keep them alert. This is what the sentry in the video was doing when the tourist started fooling around. At most of the Royal palaces the crowd can't get anywhere near them, but this particular post at Windsor Castle is an exception. There also used to be two more beside the main gates.

But I was an officer, so I never did sentry duty. Officers command the guard-mounting ceremonies and inspect the sentries periodically; the rest of the time they just lounge around in the officers' apartments in the various palaces.

Glad you didn't have to do sentry. I wouldn't mind if I could somehow wear ear buds plugged into my Ipod then I could tune most of them out. Otherwise, I wouldn't like it. For some it wouldn't be too bad, I guess, just not for me, hehe.

Those ceremonial guards put up with a LOT of tourist BS. It seems that the Chinese (the tourist was Asian) are giving Americans a run for their money in the boorishness department. A while back a Chinese tourist scratched graffiti into an ancient Egyptian statue. Also, the English seem to have a different concept of personal space than Americans. In two notable recent instances, Americans have been caught in personal space violations with royalty. Michelle Obama actually put her arm around the Queen's waist during a photo op, so enraging the poor woman that she banned the Obamas from the palace. That's why the president wasn't invited to William's wedding. Also, an American basketball player put his hand on Princess Kate's shoulder.

The Royalty are all into protocol and if you breach theirs they simply will not invite you back. You get the cold shoulder. British tend to handle situations in a similar manner as the monarchs.