Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Don't mess with the Queen's Guard

The soldiers seen wearing the red tunics and busby's ect that are around the various Royal Palace's in London, are there primarily for ceremonial duties, with the "protection" being a secondary consideration.

Traditionally, they were mostly from the various Guards regiments but today pretty much any Regiment can do a ceremonial tour.

The Guards regiments consist of "ordinary" soldiers and the regiments are either infantry or cavalry units..

The various Foot Guards used to only recruit soldiers over a certain height but I don't think that has been the case for a while...

The "real" protection around the Royal family goes largely unseen but even so, is probably considerably less than the US President has...

BTW, with regards the video clip shown, the "challenge" the soldier gave is the formal SOP for the situation. Usually its enough to draw the attention of the Police who are on duty in the area, and they will come and move on any tourists who are being a PITA...

Schitt like that just pisses me off. Looks to be at Windsor, where I was fortunate enough to visit. The whole experience, particularly the Guards, very impressive. No, their bayonets aren't rubber, and tackling one to remove their "hats" (my apologies to Pete E for not knowing the appropriate term) would end really badly for any azzwipe that tries.
Would it be funny if that little bastard had done the same to our honor guards at the Tomb of the Unknown, or at 8th and I? I will never find ignorance and the complete lack of appropriate respect amusing.
Rant over.

Disrespectful entitled squirt needed a strong refresher for his future memory. He keeps that up and somewhere sometime somebody is gonna slap the snot out of him for his ignorance. Sooner would be better than later. Hopefully that makes it to Utube for everyone's enjoyment.

He needs to be taken out back and taught a lesson in manners.

Some one need to slap the [bleep] outta that punks mother, then sac kick some manners into that little puke, then introduce some sort of bacterial infection into his friends blood stream for videoing he dumb azz.

The style shown in the video is a Bearskin cap, and is made from the hide of a blackbear, something that riles the Anti's no end.

Some regiments where a shorter version which is known as a "Busby" which is of Europran origin, Hungarian I think..

http://www.examiner.com/article/tomb-of-the-unknown-soldier-disrespect-not-tolerated

Rock Chuck
It is the ones in plain cloths that really are the guards that you need to watch out for they may be right beside you and you would never Know. Cheers NC

Holy god. I hope that little fa$$ot develops azz cancer.

That had to be a set up?

If it wasn't faked then he needs to be slapped so hard his grandmother's dentures fly out.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-171530/End-line-bearskins.html

End of the line for bearskins

by MATTHEW BAYLEY, Daily Mail

For two centuries it has stood tall and proud as a British military tradition.

But the bearskin could be about to be toppled after protests from animal rights activists.

The Ministry of Defence is trying to find a fake fur replacement after being inundated with complaints that the caps are a symbol of animal cruelty.

The bearskins, up to 16in tall and weighing around two pounds, are worn by the Grenadier, Welsh, Irish, Scots and Coldstream Guards.

They are synonymous with the pomp and splendour of events such as the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and the Trooping the Colour ceremony.

Made from the pelts of culled Canadian black bear, the material is warm and water resistant, retaining its distinctive shape no matter the weather.

Looking at alternatives

Over the years, the Army has tried to look at alternatives. But experiments with nylon and dyed sheepskin have left the caps bedraggled and untidy, soaked by rain, sticking up in the wrong places and fading in colour.

"We've been looking at it quite assiduously," said Ministry of Defence spokesman Simon Saunders. "The industry is quite well aware we're looking for alternatives."

Mr Saunders said any potential replacement material has to fulfil rigorous criteria.

"It's going to have to withstand British weather, it's going to have to withstand static electricity," he added.

"If the wind blows at all, then the false fur stays where the wind left it, so it looks like it needs a good brush.

"But fur blows straight back into shape. Bear fur has a fine layer underneath that keeps the warmth, and a coarse layer on top that keeps the water out.

"With false fur fabrics, it absorbs the water and if you've got one of those on you're carrying around extra pounds of fluid."

Mr Saunders said the Ministry is pinning its hopes on an alternative material made by a firm in West Yorkshire. A combination of natural and synthetic hair, it is expected to be tested within the next few months.

Bear cull licensed

Around 100 new bearskin caps are needed every year.

The black bears are killed under licence by native Inuit hunters in a Canadian government programme to keep numbers under control.

However, the animal charity People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants the practice stopped, urging protesters to write to the Queen.

The current Miss Great Britain, Yana Booth, is among those who have written, describing bearskins as "perhaps the world's cruellest crowns".

She wrote: "Her Majesty can help relegate these cruelly-made hats to Britain's history books where they belong."

While the Army is happy to consider alternatives, it denies that the headgear is cruel.

"Claims that our bearskin caps cause cruelty to bears are frankly a nonsense," said a spokesman.

"They are culled in large numbers each year by the Canadian authorities because the bear population is dangerously high. We take 100 pelts a year and that is a fraction of the number culled."

Symbol of Britain?

One Guards officer added: "We have no problem with a synthetic alternative, but it has to do the job properly. Some of those we've tried in the past have been a disaster. Every Army regiment is attached to its traditions but the bearskin is really something else again.

"It is a symbol of Britain, recognised all over the world."

Army top brass have been happy to adopt modern synthetics in other cases. Fake leopardskin is now worn by drummers in marching bands, while the smaller busby hats worn by the King's Troop are no longer made from beaver fur.

Bearskins were adopted in the 18th century because the brimmed hats worn by grenadiers obstructed their view when they were hurling grenades.

In 1768, it was ordered that grenadiers in the Foot Guards wear caps of black bearskin, with the motto Nec Aspera Terrent (Not even difficulties deter us) on a silver King's Crest on the front.

At the battle of Waterloo in 1815, the First Regiment of Foot Guards defeated the grenadiers of Napoleon's Guard.

They were rewarded with the title of Grenadier Regiment, with every soldier allowed to wear a bearskin.

We use to go down to London and would always go by Buckingham Palace to see the Guards....

Little Punks, usually foreign, would always try to get the Guards to look at them, make a face or something just to get their attention...

I remember one little punk American kid finally started kicking one of the Guards while he was standing his post.. kid was 8 or 9...

every certain amount of time, they would either march across the front of the gate and man the other side, trading places with the Guard on the opposite side, or just move forward and do those maneuvers that British Troops do, right face etc...

but they always seem to do so with a stomping of their feet...

you guessed it, when he changed a position and before he resumed being at Attention.. he stomped his foot... right on top of this kids foot.. and hard....

The kid starts screaming in pain, and laying there holding his smash toes...the crowd applauded the Guard...

No reaction whatsoever.. but a big smile spread across his mouth in response to the Crowds Applauding...