What It's Really Like to Be a Member of the Royal Guard

now contrary to popular belief the members of the Queen's Royal Guard are allowed to talk but only in very specific circumstances if people get too close to them or become aggressive if you're ever in their way you'll most likely hear make wave for the Queen's guard oh side note try not to get in their way because they'll most likely knock you over you'll also never see one of them smiling for a selfie they're not even allowed to chuckle and it was rumored that if they do they'll receive a fine of about 200 bucks that turned out not to be true anyway even if they aren't allowed to show much emotion they really don't like it when people imitate the way they walk but it's not all rules and regulations they can't have fun every now and then when not performing military songs during The Changing of the Guard the orchestra will switch to the playlist with more fun Tunes like the Star Wars or Indiana Jones soundtracks since the guards have to stand up straight for long periods of time they are allowed to move and they are even encouraged to do so for their own health so every 10 minutes or so you'll see them turn to the left to March about 10 Paces then turn around and go back to their initial position unfortunately that's the only movement they're allowed to do so what do they do all those hours since they can't speak or move a lot well they have to use their imagination they sing songs inside their heads and try to remember the lyrics some even try to piece together a whole movie by mentally recounting all the scenes in order the rule about their interaction with the public was overlooked in a very unusual situation a picture of it even went viral online it was when a member of the Queen's guard was seen outside Buckingham Palace receiving water to drink from the civilian during a heat wave as the temperatures top 104 degrees Fahrenheit the heavily dressed guards were allowed to withdraw from their positions for a couple of hours and hide in the shade they were also seen using electric fans to help them cope with the unusually high for the average London weather temperatures their horses were also taken care of often being padded with water and constantly offered water to drink now as boring as it might seem to stand around all day sometimes in really bad weather the guards have the chance to meet some interesting people every now and then they see presidents Prime Ministers and celebrities some of the guards have even had the pleasure of meeting her majesty the queen herself and some even recount having nice conversations with her and other members of the royal family and what about you know when the guards need to go to the bathroom they're not allowed to take bathroom breaks so they need to have quite a bit of control there's even a protocol on how they should faint that can sometimes happen given the Heat or how tired they get so when they faint they have to maintain a dignified position that's why you'll sometimes see images of Queen's guards gracefully lying face down on the ground the guards are not recruited to work for the royal family specifically they all have ongoing military careers and serve the statement role of guarding Buckingham Palace on rotation turns out the members of the Queen's Royal Guard actually borrowed the idea of their bare skin caps from Napoleon himself these large helmets date back to the 18th century they were designed like that to make soldiers appear taller to intimidate their opponents they were often worn by the French army and were later adopted by the British too unlike any other type of hat they are secured under the lip of the wearer instead of the chin for added protection of the neck since the head is 18 inches in height and weighs up to nine pounds the guards need to have the impressive neck strength to be able to support it the cap gets even heavier when it rains those black hats require a lot of investment too the British army buys around 50 to 100 of them a year and each cost roughly 650 pounds which is around eight hundred dollars now how are those hats made well the outer layer is stretched over a piece of framework shaped like a basket an adjustable leather skull cap is placed inside after that the chin strap gets attached to make sure the Hat stays in place for longer periods of time surprisingly the members of the Guard say it keeps them cool but some of them do complain about chin straps that need to fit quite tightly and take some getting used to not all bare skin caps are the same if you take a closer look you'll see differently colored plumes corresponding to a specific regiment the Cold Stream guards for example wear a red colored plume on the right hand side the grenadiers have it on the left hand side meanwhile the Irish guards have a blue plume there are in total seven British regiments that wear that specific type of hat to join the Queen's guard people need to pass the British army recruit battery or Barb test it's basically a computer test that contains a series of timed questions it's supposed to check the candidate's ability to process information quickly accurately and logically they also need to have a lot of endurance since a full day of work can last over 24 hours and up to six hours of these 24 the guards can spend standing of course they don't get chosen for their looks but they do need to be pretty tall five eight to six two is often the norm as well prepared as they are the members of the Queen's guard have been outsmarted at least once in 1982 for example a guy named Michael Fagan managed to get past the guard stationed at Buckingham Palace and made his way to the Queen's bedroom it said they had a conversation before the police eventually captured him most of us think of those red tunic guards when talking about Buckingham Palace but they also cover other Royal landmarks that's why you can see foot guards at the Wellington Barracks Victoria Barracks at Windsor or the Royal artillery Barracks at Woolwich as for the red tunics the color was chosen for practical and cost-saving reasons should a guard member ever get injured it won't be so noticeable more so British soldiers wear this color because back in the day red was the cheapest and most easily available dye for Fabrics the guards don't always wear red though they opt for this color during the summer months from April to October during fall and winter they switched to gray coats which are much more practical given the colder temperature and rainfall the guard's uniform has different markings depending on the rank the metals they wear located above the left breast of each jacket show the military tours each guard is undertaken the gold buttons have a secret meaning too they're arranged in a certain way according to the regiment the Cold Stream guards for example have two buttons because they were the second regimen formed the Queen's guard is made up of 36 soldiers and three officers but only four of them stand outside the palace when the queen is at home and a mere two are there when she's away they have to perform a ritual called The Changing of the Guard in front of Buckingham and St James palaces it lasts for about 45 minutes and is free for tourists to watch the guards aren't all men by the way it's true that women couldn't join combat troops in the British army especially in the Infantry but that was until 2017 when a Canadian soldier named Megan couto became eligible to join the troop she became the first female captain of the Queen's guard in the same year when she was only 24 you go girl that's it for today so hey if you pacified your curiosity then give the video a like and share it with your friends or if you want more just click on these videos and stay on the bright side

Channel: BRIGHT SIDE

Views: 1,187,120

Keywords: bright side, brightside

Id: SoIlvYQZ2pA

Length: 8min 11sec (491 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 21 2022