Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace
16th March 2008

2 Sqn’s Visit to B Sqn The Queens Royal Lancers

I don’t know about everyone else who went on the trip, but it was the proudest day of my life so far. Okay, it was an early start but it was well worth getting up before sun rise. For the 25 cadets who were selected for the visit the day was long but enjoyable with plenty to see and do with B Sqn QRL conducting Public Duties in London.

The day ahead started once the convoy of two mini buses met at a lay-by on the A1 the day ahead started. The ride down was long and tedious with many of us falling asleep on each other. However, the mood changed as soon as we entered London and took random pictures of statues, the marble arch and Japanese tourists taking photos.

After finally picking our way through the London traffic we found ourselves at Wellington Barracks, home of the Grenadier Guards. After de-bussing we were met by Major Mack OC B Sqn The Queens Royal Lancers and he briefed us on what the day ahead had in store.

After the briefing, we watched as the new guard got on parade and waited for the Queens Royal Lancers Gideon to be marched on parade. Whilst waiting for the Gideon, the band began to play and it was probably the best bit of music I had ever heard. I know there are some masterpieces in this world but Pirates of the Caribbean being played by a military band was awe-inspiring.

The new guard from B Sqn QRL were ready to march from Wellington Barracks to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard. As visitors for the day, we needed to be in place on the forecourt of Buckingham Palace before the QRL arrived at the Palace. Once the gates to the barracks opened we began to march off onto the streets of London. This is where the feeling of being proud kicked in. I was the left hand marker and so was the first one out of the gates and was immediately the centre of many a tourist’s photograph. This was the scene all the way to the Palace as hundreds of tourists took pictures of cadets marching onto the Forecourt of Buckingham Palace. We felt like we couldn’t be touched with all this commotion being centred on us for the time being. I know that my heart was in my mouth because I was proud and did not want to mess up and make the others look bad, I’m sure the others felt the same. 

The parade was amazing, despite the head on wind and rain. (To make it all the better, we shared the trip with Notts ACF, and they turned up late and had to watch from outside the Palace gates as we stood on paraded inside.) We stood tall and proud and let the wind batter us with the rain and did one better than the Band who left half way through the parade due to the heavy rain. We stayed till the end. OC B Sqn Major Mack gave us a very entertaining and witty running commentary throughout the parade; he explained many of traditions and the history of the changing of the guard. Not to mention answering all manner of questions about the parade from the cadets.

Once changing of he guard had taken place, we marched right across the Forecourt of Buckingham Palace and down the Mall to St James’s Palace.

St James’s Palace was and wasn’t what I expected, is was grand and stood proud amongst the city, but the guardroom was smaller than what I had imagined. It consisted of the guardroom itself, a dormitory and a lounge type room with a small kitchen and TV.

After are tour of St James’s Palace we left the Officers who had been invited to the Officers Mess for lunch and marched down to Horseguards where we went to the museum. We had a look around at what seemed to be the world’s smallest museum and we took photos taken both inside and out. After the museum, my group went to the stables to see the horses and what they wear on ceremonies, as well as having a ride on one of the horses if we wanted. Many people took up the opportunity to do so. Photos were taken of people trying to get up on the horse and failing, which made the experience quite funny.

You never quite know how long the Mall is before you march up it and that is exactly what we did. From Horseguards to St James’s Palace seemed forever, especially as we were nearing the end of a tiring day. When we finally got back to St James’s Palace, we were debriefed by Major Mack and departed for the buses via a little detour.

This detour took us past Buckingham Palace again, where we had a group photo taken of the cadets and instructors as well as the Sgt Danny Franks and Cpl Buck Rogers who where our QRL regiment escorts for the day. Finally arriving back at Wellington Barracks, we thanked Sgt Franks and Cpl Rogers for having us and got back on the mini bus to reflect on what was an amazing day. Many of us fell asleep before we had left London and it took us a while to arrive back at our respective destinations.

Now I don’t know about the others, but I felt that not only did we do ourselves proud, but we were a credit to 2 Sqn and Lincs ACF as a whole as we conducted ourselves around London in a professional manner and took in a lot of information. It was the first time that the QRL had taken up the Public Duties in London and I personally thank them for letting us be part of what will stay with us forever.  

Cpl Martin Bowler
Deepings Detachment