London Calling, Right on Schedule

The Palace of Westminster, London, England

William has an “interest in possession” in the Duchy, which means he receives the net income from its assets (land, property, investments worth 1 billion) but he does not have outright personal ownership or the ability to sell or alienate the core capital assets for private gain.

The Duchy’s holding is explicitly tied to the position of Duke of Cornwall, which is vested in the heir apparent. If the monarchy were abolished, William would no longer hold that title or capacity, and the estate could not simply transfer to him as private personal property. He has no independent, perpetual ownership outside of his role as heir.

No, I don’t.

I had no idea Changing of the Guard was as "much" as it was. I thought it was a simple march - the "going on duty" guards march to the palace, the "going off duty" guards march back to the barracks.

Nope. It's a little more complex than that. And two sets of guards. And it's not every day, it's Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, in most types of weather. The guide said the ceremony will be cancelled in extreme weather and it actually happened - one of the days I was in London, they cancelled the Changing of the Guard because it was too hot.

First the guards of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment (⬇️) who are coming off duty march out of St. James's Palace. These are the mounted guards in position at the formal entrance to Horse Guards Parade from Whitehall (the ones that people take photos of and who'll yell at you if you get too close to them). They come out of the palace to the Mall, then walk up the Mall to Buckingham Palace and gather in the forecourt.

Then the guards of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment who are coming onto duty process down the Mall to Horse Guards Parade (⬇️). They are on horseback.

These photos are showing the crowds at Buckingham Palace that turn out to watch. Rick Steves said once that "you can find every tourist in London here" and that's very much true.

Then Part 3 begins. The King's Guard - the ones in the bearskin hats who stand on duty at the entrance to the BP courtyard - who are coming on duty march to Buckingham Palace from Wellington Barracks.

(I don't remember if it was The Queen's funeral or Charles's coronation, but one of the broadcasts showed all the troops gathered near a white building before the proceedings began for rehearsals and inspections - that building is Wellington Barracks.)

You can hear the band performing as they march up Birdcage Walk to Buckingham. In the last photo above, you can see all the crowds around the gates - those are the gates the guards will process through.

Part 4: The guards march to Buckingham, there's a small handover ceremony in the palace forecourt, then (Part 5) the guards coming off duty march out of the palace, back down Birdcage Walk, to Wellington Barracks. ⬇️

Part 6 is an inspection (I guess, I don't know what it's called) at Wellington Barracks before they're dismissed.

(These photos are from two different days - the first photoset, from St. James's Palace to Buckingham Palace, is from one day and the second photoset (all the Wellington Barracks photos) is from the day I went to the Queen Elizabeth II exhibit and I left as the ceremony was ending.

Some advice if anyone's interested in going to the Changing of the Guard:

Don't go to Buckingham Palace. Way too many people. Pickpockets and thieves are there too (all the guides were telling us). Watch from the Mall around St. James's Palace or Clarence House for the mounted cavalry parts, then hurry up to Buckingham and watch the second part from the back gardens. (I'll put a map at the end.)

If you do want to go to Buckingham to watch the forecourt ceremony, definitely go early and definitely plan to stay there for a good long while. Go at least an hour before to get a good spot.

If you'd like to see just part of the ceremony and don't really want to be anywhere close to a crowd, go over to Wellington Barracks along Birdcage Walk and get a spot at the fence there. Watch the warm-ups and the inspection, and when they leave for BP, stay there. They'll come back like 20 minutes later. (also it's shady there...lots of trees.)

I saw the ceremony as part of a guided tour of Westminster Abbey.

This ⬇️ is the tour I did but there are tons of companies and tour guides at all kinds of price points that have a variation of this tour or that will take you to view the Changing of the Guard.

(the middle star with "go here to listen to the band" and "large sidewalks" is where my tour stopped to watch everything and the middle pics of BP and the Victoria Memorial are taken from. It was a really good vantage point - close enough that you could see everything, but a bit farther back to be away from the heavy crowds. one thing you might catch onto from my photos is, as a solo female traveler, I don't do crowds - I will "rope drop" a popular museum at opening time to avoid the madness, take the long route away from a busy shopping area, or wait till the next subway train if it's too packed.)