Changing the Guard at Horse Guards Parade. We all know that "they're changing the guard at Buckingham Palace" but they also change it at Horse Guards and slightly further a field at Windsor Castle, in Berkshire. The guard doesn't change at all on very wet weather days and various State events like Trooping the Colour also force its cancellation. You can get date and time information on the next Changing of the Guard by calling the London Tourist Board's premium rate Guard Change information service on 0839 123411.
Royal Gun Salutes
Throughout the year the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery and Honourable Artillery Company perform Royal Gun Salutes. This is done to celebrate various special dates and to honour visiting heads of state and makes a very impressive sight.
The main venues for the salutes are Hyde Park (opposite the Dorchester Hotel) and the Tower of London. Soldiers in full ceremonial dress perform the salutes with seventy-one horses pulling six guns. A salute of usually 41 guns (or 62 at the Tower of London) is fired, the guns are then hooked back up to the horses and they gallop away.
The salutes take place at noon in Hyde Park and at 1pm at the Tower of London.
The main dates for the salutes are:
6th February - Accession Day.
21st April - Birthday of HM the Queen.
2nd June - Birthday of HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.
4th August - Birthday of HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
If any date should fall on a Sunday the Salute takes place the following day. Gun Salutes also take place during State Visits, for the state opening of Parliament in November, and for the Queen's official birthday in June. The venues for these salutes are Green Park and the Tower of London.
Also, a 2-gun salute is fired on Horse Guards Parade on Remembrance Sunday in November.
Beating the Retreat
If you're into military pomp and circumstance then you'll love this. Drilling, marching, military bands, guardsmen, uniforms, guns, etc ... It occurs around the beginning of June and is performed by the Army Household Division on Horse Guards Parade in SW1.
In military terms beating the retreat was a drum signal used to tell soldiers to break off battle. Thus rather than being connected with cowardice the retreat was simply a way of telling soldiers as night fell that it was time for bed.
It's quite a leap from this to the modern Beating Retreat ceremony that takes place on Horse Guards each June. This is a high pageant musical spectacular presented by the Guards Massed Bands. It is visually stunning too, taking place in the evening by floodlight. Admission is by ticket and the proceeds go to the Army Benevolent Fund.