Horse Guards Parade for Visitors to London

Aug 6th, 2009 by savvyclub

Dear Friends,

Nothing says London quite like the pomp and pageantry associated with our historic Royal Family. The Horse Guards Parade ground is at the heart of the area of London known as Whitehall, formally where the entrance to the Royal Palace stood. This area is still guarded by mounted horseman, sentries from the Queen’s Household Cavalry. It is also the annual parade ground for celebratory events such as Trooping the Colour, which celebrates the Monarch’s birthday each year.

If you wish to see the Changing of the Guard at the Horse Guards Parade whilst you are visiting London. You should visit them on Monday to Saturday at 11am or on Sundays at 10am. It is at this time each day that the twelve horsemen in their traditional royal military dress arrive from the barracks in London’s Hyde Park. As part of the ceremony, the Old Guard lines up on the north side of the parade ground and the New Guard lines up on the south side. They exchange and the old Guard return to their barracks whilst their replacements guard the Horse Guards Parade grounds.

These times refer directly to the event known as The Changing of the Guard. However, the Mounted Sentries that are on duty, change every hour between 10am and 4pm.

From the Parade Ground, you can see much of London’s history. On the West side is St James’ Park, to the North are the former Admiralty buildings, to the East is Horse Guards, the former HQ of the British Army and to the south are the buildings of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the back garden of 10 Downing Street, home to the British Prime Minister.

Amusingly, during the 2012 Olympic Games to be held in London, the Horse Guards Parade grounds will be used for the Beach Volleyball tournament!

If you’re interested, here’s a useful Visitor’s Guide to Horse Guards which tells you so much more.

Kind Regards

Kim Rix

The SaVVy Luxury Concierge