Royal and Ceremonial London, London

The men you see around Buckingham Palace and around London are not only ceremonial guards. While upholding the traditions of the past, they perform duties throughout the world as professional soldiers and are known as some of the most elite and skilled soldiers in the British Army. The responsibility of guarding the Sovereign by the Household Troops dates back to the time of Henry VII (1485-1509). They take an active role in protecting their Sovereign and at night they patrol the grounds of both Buckingham Palace and St. James's Palace. These are some of the best soldiers in the British Army and have fought in many major areas of conflict since the 17th Century.

The Household Division is made up of seven Regiments and comprise of the Household Cavalry Regiment, The Life Guards and the Blues and Royals along with five other Regiments of Foot Guards, the Grenadier Guards, the Coldstream Guards, The Scots Guards, the Irish Guards and the Welsh Guards.

Following is the breakdown of the dress code for the Guards:

Life Guards - Wear a metal helmet with a white plum on the helmet, red tunic no buttons

Blues & Royals – Wear a metal helmet with a red plume on helmet, blue tunic no buttons

Grenadier - Wear a bearskin cap with a white plume worn on the left, red tunic singly buttons

Goldstream - Wear a bearskin cap with a red plume worn on the right, red tunic, pairs of buttons

Scots-Wear a bearskin cap with no plume, red tunic threes of buttons

Irish - Wear a bearskin cap with a blue plume worn on the right, red tunic, fours of buttons

Welsh - Wear a bearskin cap with a white/green/white plume worn on the left, red tunic, fives of buttons

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This ceremony takes place at 11.00am each day(10am on Sundays) also at 4pm and is a spectacle of pomp and ceremony, British tradition remains in tact and proud we are of it.

For more informatin please go to the website provided.

It takes place at Horse Guards Parade ground, in Horse guards road which runs off The Mall at the eastern end of St James Park. The best place to view it is on the eastern side of the parade ground where you will find a roped off area. Do not stand at the western side of the ropes as they move them when the horses enter the roped off area causing all sorts of pushing & shoving as people are forced to move to avoid the incoming horses. If you arrive 15 minutes before the start time of 11am you should be able to secure a good viewing position, stay put & enjoy the whole show just metres away

The Albert Memorial is a monument built in memory of Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria ordered the construction of the monument, built in Gothic style by Gilbert Scott in 1861, shortly after the death of Prince Albert. The Albert Memorial was laid in the south of Hyde Park and close to other places associated with Prince Albert as the Royal Albert Hall. The Albert Memorial can be seen no less than 169 sculptures of various characters known from four continents: Europe, Asia, America and Africa.

El Albert Memorial es un monumento construido en memoria del príncipe Albert, consorte de la Reina Victoria. El monumento fue mandado construir por la Reina Victoria y erigido, en estilo neogótico, por Gilbert Scott en 1861, poco después de la muerte del príncipe Albert. El Albert Memorial se colocó en la zona sur de Hyde Park, y próximo a otro de los lugares relacionados con el príncipe Albert como es el Royal Albert Hall. En el Albert Memorial se pueden observar nada menos que 169 esculturas de diversos personajes conocidos de cuatro continentes: europeo, asiático, americano y africano.

2nd visit August 2008

Warwick Castle can be visited on a long day trip from London, this is one of my favorite castles that I've visited and they have activities going on during the day that are entertaining for both adults and kids. The weekends in summer tend to have the most activities but I imagine they are also the most crowded.

There are several different ways to visit Warwick Castle:

Several companies run day trips out to Warwick by bus, these are more expensive than independent travel and also include other stops in Oxford and Stratford.

If you opt for independent travel, the journey takes about 1 hr 40 minutes by train. If you are just planning on spending the day you can get a "cheap" day return, we purchased 2 for 1 tickets in advance from Lastminute.com, you can also get a slight discount by booking on the castle's website, plus you can avoid the queues. The Castle is just a short 15 minute walk from the train station.

Or if you want to try and combine a visit to Warwick with Stratford, there was a Shakespeare Explorer pass for either 1 or 3 days that allowed you to go into Warwick and out of Stratford (or vice versa). As seeing the castle properly takes at least 4 hours, unless you get a really early start on the day, you really can't do justice to both places in one day.

I posted some additional tips and pics on my Warwick page.

If you are spending more than 3 or 4 days in London, I would highly recommend a day trip out to one of the castles/palaces that are easily reachable from London via train. Windsor Castle is one of my three favorites that are close to London (the other two are Hampton Court and Warwick Castle), the trip takes about 35-40 minutes from London and can easily be a full day trip should you want to do some shopping, wander over to Eton or take a boat trip on the Thames River. Or a 1/2 day if you get an early start and all you want to see is the castle.

I've been out to Windsor several times on a daytrip from London, twice to take other people who hadn't seen it, twice on my own. Windsor is a quintessential castle, beautiful architecture, lots of history and lots to see inside the castle.

For more information on what to see in Windsor and how to get there, please see my Windsor page.

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I think that the Horse Guards put on a much better show than the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. Because of this, I've ranked them as #8 on my "Top 10 Things to do in London" list. With the Horse Guards, you can get much more "up close and personal" to the action. You're not 20 people deep in a crowd trying to catch of glimpse of the guards. Plus, I love horses. So, combining the pomp and circumstance of the changing of the guards with the beauty and grace of horses, and voila, you have a winner!

All the horses are this deep chocolate brown (almost black) with black mane and tail. The guards are all dressed in red or black with these amazing gold helmets. The contrasts are striking. The building of the Horse Guards fronts the old Palace of Whitehall, and the changing of the horse guards has taken place here since 1649. Within the area that they perform the ceremony there are several "antique" cannons and some interesting statues.

The changing of the horse guards begins everyday at 11 AM (but Sunday--10:30 AM). They'll post a sign if it's been cancelled or temporarily postponed for the day. The day that my mom and I tried to see the Horse Guards in May 2008, their ceremony had been cancelled but they were still holding inspections that afternoon at 4 PM. We unfortunately weren't able to make it back in time to see it. The pictures posted were from my trip with my husband in Feb 2003.

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Go to Kensington gardens and the royal Albert hall, they're just across the road from each other and you've got plenty of stuff to do in hyde park opposite the hall. Have a picnic if the weather's good, explore the park and just have a look around. Stroll through the park to the opposite corner to marble arch if feeling energetic.