Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace

On the fifth of June my brother Michael and I arrived in London, our final destination on our trip around Europe. Shortly after depositing our luggage at the Hotel concierge we were following the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Walk towards Buckingham palace.

As we got closer and closer to the palace we noticed that there was a huge crowd surrounding the palace. Thinking that perhaps we simply didn't know about a scheduled appearance of one of the royals we joined in the crowd waiting for something to happen.

(The view of Buckingham Palace from my perch on the fence)

While waiting we learned that the crowd was not, in fact, there to see any royals, but to see the changing of the guard. I found the sheer number of people gathered to witness a routine changing of the guard amusing, since in Copenhagen at most there may be 20 people watching the changing of the guard and that is usually people who happen to be walking by. Thinking that it would be exciting to see why the English changing of the guard attracts such an audience I found a perch which compensates for my lack of height, and waited to see the british guards coming up the path.

And come they did, to the playing of the honor band and the clicking of hundreds of cameras.

Once they got inside Buckingham gate the band played a medley of songs from The Wizard of Oz before actually beginning the process of changing the guards. After almost an hour worth of songs, and marching close to the gate so tourists could take pictures of the stoic english guards, they finally managed to change the guards.

 The process of the honor band and relieved guards exiting out of the palace gates was also quite a show with ample fanfare to appease the eager tourists looking on.

 The view from my perch, which Michael had joined me at so as to get better pictures, was truly ideal for when the guard exited. Though it did become slightly more dangerous to be balanced on the fence when hundreds of people realized that your spot was where they wanted to be.

Despite the precarious nature of where we were located we were able to get some amazing pictures of the honor band and guards as they left Buckingham palace.

I found the security and measures put in place to facilitate a routine changing of the guards to be slightly crazy. With barriers, traffic cones, many armed police, extreme amounts of fanfare and hundreds of people in the audience the British changing of the guard was like nothing I had ever seen.

Being able to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham was a great way to kick off our trip to London.

Cheerio!