Changing the Guards at the Buckingham Palace, London

The website says the changing takes place at 11.30 am in May. They also advice you to take your place by 11.15 am. Both of us could not figure out why. We took the underground, got down at the Green Park Station and walked to the palace. And then we realized why they wanted us to come in a little early!

If you do not reach early enough, you will see the changing of the guards only in someones display screen! When we reached there all the places near the railings of the plaace had a thick crowd. So we decided to stand near the Victoria Memorial. You can change places easily around the circle and see the bands walking in. Once the bands enter the palace, the Victoria Memorial however is not the place where the action is. So both of us walked towards the palace and could see what was happening inside only in someone’s LCD.

We then came near the ropes, there was less crowd. And the friendly policeman was chatting with the crowd. He told us that his horse was due to retire in a year. When someone asked where, he said, “Hopefully with me.” Then she asked, “So will you retire too?” He said, “No, 7 more years to go, it has been 30 already!” He told us, “The first band to come out will walk to the right but don’t move, the next will come this way.” A lady in the crowd asked if she could take a picture with him after the bands were gone, he said, “Unfortunately I would have to go with the bands.” But a while later he said, “Go ahead, you can take one now.” He also remarked sometime, “This is not such a good job during the winters and the change happens even when there are no tourists.” True enough the schedule mentions all kinds of weather exceptions.

We were second from the rope (on the other side from the railings of the palace), waiting for the guards to come out. The two girls in front of us got a call and decided to leave. My friend and I quickly took their places. Ad that is how I managed to make the video and saw the guards coming out. Oh and it was a typical London day, Grey, cold (to me) with a light drizzle. And I enjoyed it a lot.