All the Queen's horses and all the Queen's men

Horse Guards

Today found us at the Household Cavalry Museum in Whitehall.  The Household Cavalry is the most elite military group covering functions directly associated with the Queen. It acts as her personal bodyguard as well.  It consists of two regiments: the Life Guard and the Blues and Royals.

Purely by chance we were there at 11:00 AM to see the changing of the Queen's Life Guard.  We were told it was a "double" change because the Queen is currently in residence at Buckingham Palace, still recovering from the illness which hospitalized her last week.

Changing the Guard

 Horseguards has been the home of the Household Cavalry for 350 years and the museum is actually attached to the working stables of the Queen's Life Guard.  There is a large glass screen separating the museum from the stables and visitors can watch the troopers attending to their horses.

The Working Stable

The museum is small but fascinating with a wonderful display of the uniforms, weapons and a variety of artifacts.  Very modern with touchscreen interactive displays and audiovisual displays, the museum is well worth a visit - especially if you can time it to see the changing of the guard which is certainly more intimate than the change-over at Buckingham Palace.

On a more personal note, we paid the Senior's rate of £4 each and because we had the brochure, which we had picked up at the hotel, we got a further 25% discount.  Believe us when we tell you it is an absolute bargain even at the full price of £6 for adults.

The changing of the Queen's Life Guard is at 11am except on Sunday when it is at 10am.