How long do the guards stand in front of Buckingham Palace? (2024)

FAQs

How long do the guards stand in front of Buckingham Palace? ›

The guards at Buckingham Palace and St James Palace are on duty for 24 or 48 hours. During that time a Guardsman will have 2 hours on sentry duty and then 4 hours off.

Most of the time it is soldiers from one of these regiments that will be standing guard outside Buckingham Palace. Guardsmen will have two hours on sentry duty and four hours off.

The guards are soldiers taken from units like the Sovereign's Bodyguard and the Yeoman Warders of the Tower of London. According to The Independent, they rotate around the coffin every 20 minutes during their six-hour long time in the spotlight.

At the front entrance to Horse Guards stands a mounted cavalry member or guard. Each red coated guard “stands guard” on horseback for exactly one hour, impervious to the cameras, selfie sticks, and requests for smiles, in full military regalia.

The King's Guard is not purely ceremonial. They provide sentries during the day and night, and during the later hours, they patrol the grounds of the Palace.

Smiling is Forbidden

Regardless of which jokes you crack or funny faces you pull, you'll fail to snap the Queen's guards out of their sombre expression.

They can spend a total of 6 hours a day standing.

After getting an acceptable score on the BARB test, a soldier is ready to join the Queen's Guard. The salary for this job is paid based on a list defined by the British army, with values starting at £20,400 (or around $28,266).

Contrary to popular belief, the soldiers are allowed to move and the Guards'. shifts are often 2 hours on and 4 hours off. However, if they do end up having to relieve themselves during their shifts, they're instructed to just do it where they stand.

They are responsible for guarding the Royal Palaces. In London, you can see them outside Buckingham Palace and St James's Palace. While they wear ceremonial uniforms when on duty, these are real soldiers.

The King's Guard has strict rules to abide by, including not speaking or smiling while on duty, but a British travel blog notes that the men are permitted to warn rule-breaking tourists. “One should never touch a member of the Queen's Guard,” according to Londontopia.

Can you touch the Queen's guards horse? ›

A sign next to the guard warns onlookers that horses may kick or bite, telling them not to touch the reins. Should these rules be disobeyed they have been known to respond aggressively, so seriously do they take their duties, but there are occasions when the human sides of the guards come out.

The men in the bearskin hats do not have have ammunition in their rifles, neither are they issued pistols as someone suggested. However, when on tours of duty or on exercise they are issued with either live ammunition or blanks with blank firing adaptors.

As of May 26, 2024, the average hourly pay for a Royal Guard in the United States is $19.78 an hour. While ZipRecruiter is seeing hourly wages as high as $28.12 and as low as $12.02, the majority of Royal Guard wages currently range between $16.83 (25th percentile) to $21.15 (75th percentile) across the United States.

Does Queen Elizabeth II's staff live onsite, or do they commute to and from Buckingham Palace (and her other residences)? Most Royal residences have staff bedrooms for live-in staff. Some staff travel to the palace each day.

Buckingham Palace has 775 rooms. These include 19 State rooms, 52 Royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices and 78 bathrooms.

Contrary to some answers, women have indeed participated in providing the Queen's guard at Buckingham palace and Windsor castle. But this has been answered very well last year by 'Patrick Postman' in answer to the question, 'Why is the Queen's guard exclusively male? '. Here are some photos of women doing the job.

The members of the King's Guard wear tall and very unique hats, which are believed to have been designed to make the infantry appear more fearsome and tall during confrontations and battles. These same hats were already used in the Napoleonic wars, as well as by Napoleon's Imperial Guard, who also came to wear them.

However, Guards begin to leave the Royal Barracks and St. James Palace by 10:30. The Changing will not take place in bad weather. If it is raining, chances are there will be no ceremony.