Horse Guards and Horse Guards Parade
I tend to regard the southern part of Whitehall as the political end, and the northern part as the military end. I’m not sure if it was meant to be that way, but that’s the way I see it.
From a tourist’s perspective the one thing that shouldn’t be overlooked at the northern end is Horse Guards and its Parade Ground. As you walk up Whitehall past Downing St and the Scotland Office you can’t fail to notice the handsome looking Horse Guards Building with two mounted troopers of the Household Cavalry symbolically protecting the entrance to Horse Guards Parade. This used to be the formal entrance to St. James’s Palace via St. James’s Park and only the monarch is usually allowed to drive through the central archway.
The Palladian style building and the Parade Ground was built on the former tiltyard of the Palace of Whitehall which was destroyed by fire in 1698 (apart from the Banqueting House). This was where King Henry VIII held his jousting tournaments and Elizabeth I held her birthday celebrations. Elizabeth II continued the tradition with Trooping the Colour to celebrate her ‘official’ birthday, and presumably King Charles III will do the same.
Several years ago I was given the opportunity of buying a ticket to see the rehearsal for this royal occasion. I didn’t even know it was taking place and without going into how it happened I took up the offer. I’m glad I did because even though it was only a rehearsal for the real thing a week later it was quite a spectacle. The gallery below is from scanned photos I took with a non-digital camera at the time.
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- 01 The Procession enters Horse Guards Parade after departing from Buckingham Palace
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- The Procession continues around the Parade Ground
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- The Household Cavalry escorts the ‘Monarch’
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- Grenadier Guards on Parade
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- Marching Band of the Grenadier Guards
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- Foot Soldiers of the Grenadier Guards
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- Royal Horse Artillery
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- Royal Horse Guards
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- Trooping the Colour Ceremony
The original Horse Guards building was replaced in 1753 by the one that’s here now and was the headquarters of the British Army and its Commander-in-Chief, one of whom was the Duke of Wellington.
You can walk through the arch into the Parade Ground which faces St. James’s Park. Looking back to the Horse Guards building you’ll see (from left to right) the Old Admiralty Building, the Household Cavalry Museum, the Scotland Office, and on the right hand side, the back of Downing St. There are also several monuments and statues, most of which have a military connection in one way or another.
Horse Guards and Horse Guards Parade to me represents an area of London where politics, military, and Royalty seem to all meet together. Try not to miss it.
ORIGINAL POST – DEC 2017
LATEST UPDATE – APRIL 2024
Originally posted 2017-12-20 11:30:48.
Well done you on getting to see the rehearsal. Prob a story in itself…
I think I mentioned to you before that these pages on London were some of the earliest ones I’ve done and they really need updating. I took some pictures with a non-digital camera of the Trooping of the Colour rehearsal and I’ve scanned them since then. They may be a bit below par where quality is concerned but I should add them to the post really.
A bit below par would still be worth seeing. Like that there won’t be many of them about.
Your wish is my command. I’ve updated the post to include the ‘below par’ pics.
Awwwv, thank you. I go to say though…. Rehearsal??? THIS is only a rehearsal????? It beats any I’ve ever seen, been at, or taken…
As a footnote, the reason I got to see the spectacle was because I was approached by a woman with two children who were going to see it but her husband, at the last minute, couldn’t go. She’d been trying to get tickets for 7 years and she wasn’t going to give up the opportunity now, which meant that she had a spare ticket and let me have it at the going rate, which was quite cheap really.
They were a nice family and of course I had to sit with them. We had seats at the front and the kids supplied me with sweets and lord knows what else, but I had to turn away when the lady dropped her programme over the barrier and it landed on top of a Grenadier Guard’s busby.
LOL. Doubtless with your best… ‘I’m not here with her,’ look too. These folks that are very nice and then do that eh??
It’s not often I’m embarrased, it’s usually the other way round.
aye…free tickets aye come at a price….
💂💂😀
While your standard photo of the mounted cavelery man… it is a particularly good one. Great light I think … though I am far from an expert in these things.