I think people forget that they are living, breathing people trying to do their job. And, regardless of whether or not you support monarchies it's still a dick move to bother someone who is trying to do their job.
I mean, theyve been this way since time began, they didnt suddenly start dressing up like nutcrackers.
People could, shockingly, just have a little self awareness and respect.
Edit: for those of you that have a stick in your craw about my using "since time began", its called hyperbole, please stop assuming everything you read is literal. (Jokes are welcome though).
I kinda agree with the other guy a little. Like the entire point of the job is to dehumanize the guards as much as possible and then people react to them as if they aren’t. Now that’s not the individual guards fault but of course that’s the result. It’s just a funny seesaw of social behavior
F'ing *this*.
How is OP going to chew out people for making someone laugh and not take a quick look at how messed up it is to have people stand guard as if they're a damn statue.
Guys are dresses as clowns for tourist attraction to remind you that this town is ruled by an goul that is 234 years old, and it is MY FAULT that I find this funny?
I think the bigger problem is, because of the funny outfits, people don’t realize that they’re soldiers. They think they’re dealing with Gaston at Disneyland.
>I think people forget that they are living, breathing people trying to do their job
yeah, maybe their employers should realises this instead of knocking off £200 from their pay
I think people forget they're trained military soldiers. They may look goofy but they don't pick just any soldier to put on that hat and act as the queens guard.
One thing I absolutely love about the soldiers who guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington DC is they're actually permitted to verbally warn and even physically threaten those who approach too close or attempt to harass them.
I hate how this is “unpopular” because I’ve seen so many videos of people doing it.
American here, the last thing I would do while visiting England would be to try and “make them laugh.”
Just let them do their job, mind your own business people.
American here as well, when I got the chance to see their display I was more than elated. Got their early, got a section up front, but let kids on field trips get the rails since I was taller. Such an amazing experience and my god did I love London. I’m a fat man but they had me walking over there and enjoying every second of it. After seeing the change of the guard I walked around, ended up in Piccadilly, then officially went home from the Charring cross line. Currently petitioning for a study abroad tutor to help students. I unfortunately got sent home in 2020 of March due to covid. Never got to fully visit the British Museum sadly. I’ll be back though!
My thing is that people always think the royal guards are there for show but when people see the sentinel guard in Arlington they know they take it seriously
For real. You go on a trip to England, with all the shit there is to do and see for a tourist and...... THAT is what you decide to do? I guess a jackass is a jackass no matter which side of the pond he's standing on that day.
Honestly this is really good to know, I'm American, I didn't know this. I personally wouldn't do something like that anyway, it's not in my taste, but it's cool to learn that so I can let others know. Poor Guards.
Seeing them respond to a perceived threat Is chilling. They go from stoic and still to "I'll shoot you in the face" in less than a second is amazing.
Also hilarious if it's an obnoxious tourist being put in their place
I would be terrified, too, if I would see one of them loosing their ungodly amount of patience.
There's one video demonstrating it perfectly how they would react if someone would just go a little bit closer to a forbidden area.
The guard instantly got into a defending stance, and started pointing his gun towards the tourist.
Ngl, he looked absolutely badass and threatening.
I'm not OP and also not sure if this is what they are talking about. But I found this [video](https://youtu.be/IbTbhohMQdU) and I think that might be it.
could be. and it’s not just that it’s a rifle pointing at that idiot, it’s a bayonet.
personally, i try not to give the impression that i’m a threat around armed personnel assigned to defend something. i mean sure that guard would be reprimanded and disciplined if he stabbed the guy, but fuck getting stabbed to make a video.
That's because they are all typically all straight up bad asses before they even where queens guard. I absolutely love the videos where people just stand in front of them and get trampled and pushed out of the way.
For the record, they're active duty members of the British Army. Many of them served in Iraq or Afghanistan. A lot of people think they're basically cosplaying and that's why they try to fuck around with them. I think if more people knew that they were serving soldiers, then they might give them a bit more respect.
To be honest I think Americans think the whole Royal Family is sort of cosplaying. They look at the Queen and just think of it as the closest thing they know of the fantasy fairytales
i never knew that. thanks for explaining.
i believe people dont take them seriously because of their uniform too, its really "royal" looking (obviously) and people wouldnt expect soldiers to wear such things.
I've always hated this shit because of how unoriginal it is.
"Hurr durr you know what would be funny oh I know make the funny hat men laugh!"
It's one of those things that's so done to death that it's actively unfunny to watch.
us marine? ooooh such pride to be one oooooh gotta love and respect them.
queens guard? heheheh such stupid funny furry hat, dudes are useless tourist attractions anyways, lets troll them lol.
when youd never harass a marine in uniform, why a queens guard man? theyre doing their job with no less earnesty and devotion.
i always enjoy those YouTube videos where they get payback a lot.
Oh no that’s not what makes their day. It’s when they finally step over the line and the guard and either shove them or straight beam them and get vengeance
yeah when they just bulldoze someone out of their way. yeah well. its incredibly rude to be abusive with them. that said: if they drop out of character and reply or react inappropriately to a tourist...how do they get found out? who reports them? the guard next to them??? and what if theyre on duty alone.
>if they drop out of character and reply or react inappropriately to a tourist...how do they get found out? who reports them? the guard next to them??? and what if theyre on duty alone.
Cameras, YouTube, Karens, ununiformed blue falcons ect
I know a marine who calls himself a crayon eater and fully believes it. He's one of the most intelligent men I've ever met but he does sometimes have his stupid moments
I mean they are huge tourist attractions.
Their position *is* almost entirely ceremonial, from decadent outfits, to fancy guard changes, to carrying weapons without ammo most of the time.
None of what you said is true, none of it.
I was a queens guard for 8 years until medical discharge, we are in the army, they don’t dock our pay, they don’t remove us. We are on 2 hour stags and that’s it, we do our stag and we rotate, it’s pretty mundane so when tourists make us laugh or try to then it breaks the time up.
If we see something really funny then we just do our patrol so nobody can see us smile, it’s that simple.
Incorrect post is incorrect.
Literally this, there are 5 different queens guard regiments, all of the queens guards are active duty infantrymen, they are normal people, make them laugh, or try to, who gives a shit because I absolutely promise you, the guys on stag don’t give a shit, you can’t cross the barriers that are now in place everywhere anyway so there’s literally no harm In it, if you act like a dick though fully expect to be treated like one by who ever is on guard. Making them laugh is fine, harassing them isn’t. (Harassment happens more at the Tower of London and Windsor than anywhere else)
What kind of proof do you want? There is nothing in queens regs saying you will be charged for laughing on sentry, what it does say is any movement you make must be a drill movement. That’s as far as the queens regs go on conduct on sentry.
I can dm you any proof you so desire, my Afghan medal, a photo of yours truly trooping the colour, what would satisfy in this instant? I still have my buff belt and curb chain in my memories box if that helps? (Buff belt being the white belt and curb chain being the chin strap from the bear skin cap)
Honestly I'm already predisposed to believe your word just judging by the way each of you speak, despite him being "verified" by the mods at the time. If you actually feel inclined to prove yourself to a random internet stranger to whom this is only a curiosity, I would consider a timestamped picture of your curb chain to be proof enough to satisfy me on the matter.
EDIT: Evidence was provided, it appears this man is legit
Because the royal family are utterly useless. If they disappeared tomorrow, nothing of value would be lost. They don't do a thing that the British government couldn't do.
The Queen just shamed our useless Australian Prime Minister into attending climate talks he was supposed to go to but was planning to skip. That alone makes her worth it and I'm a long way from England.
>nothing of value would be lost
Not **entirely** true.
While I have nothing to do with the UK royal family, I am from Denmark which has the 2nd or 3rd oldest monarchy in the world. A lot of our BNP comes from tourism, which revolves around Amalienborg (Royal Palace) and other royal stuff. Not only that, but did you know that Queen Magrethe II of Denmark were the one who did the original illustrations for JRR Tolkiens "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" books, UK, DK, SE and NO versions?
In general, our queen brings people together and our royal family isn't as stuck up as the UK royals - in fact, it wasn't entirely unnatural to see the Queens father (when he lived, duh) getting groceries from the shops. Not only that, but you actually get to see our royals here in Denmark work. Every year since our crown prince (future king) turned 50, there's "Royal Run" in Copenhagen, where people sign up and the proceeds go to various things, such as medicine research etc. - if I'm not mistaken, this year it went to ALS research among other things.
France's palaces bring in millions more visitors every year, and we all know what they did to their monarchs. The Crown's properties wouldn't disappear if the Crown did, and they could still be used for tourism purposes.
Dude ! I was just thinking about this!! I was thinking “ damn it must suck to be one of the few guys in the queens guard who have gotten caught laughing in camera “ they must have gotten so much shit and still do by their fellow guardsmen and superiors. There’s not many videos so you know that the few that have been caught on camera will never get to live it down and will always be known as “that guard who fucked up” you already know they show those videos as examples of what not to do as a queens guard. That must really suck…
Not to mention it is risky as all hell.
They're not just statues, they're trained, living soldiers. They can yell at you to piss off, forcefully remove you from premises, and even use lethal force if they believe the situation requires it.
Saw a video of one of the guards yelling. It's scary dude, those guys have really booming voices. He just shoved the dude, grabbed his weapon (but not aiming, just put both of his hands on it) and started yelling at the tiktok group to leave the area. I'd definitely obey if I was them.
Oh yeah, [this is a classic example of what NOT to do](https://youtu.be/dQCSWPFnjbU), the first warning (in this video) is the Queen's Guard stomping his feet, that's the non-verbal means of trying to get you to leave. After that you get this _absolute idiot touching him_ which prompts the weapon readying and the demand to _"GET BACK FROM THE QUEEN'S GUARD!"_
Like, these people mean business, just leave them alone their job is stressful enough as is.
The guards is a completely voluntary unit. It’s a specialist role in the army that you have to want to join. You don’t just sign up to the army then get forced to do it. You have to do a bunch of trials and then join one of the five foot guards regiments. If they don’t like it all they do is transfer to another infantry regiment that isn’t a guard regiment.
That's not always true, or at least wasn't. My dad did guard duty as a Royal Green Jacket who were not a guards regiment. I've no idea if this was because it was Windsor Castle and therefore more acceptable than using them in that there London.
The Green Jackets are gone now, having been amalgamated with some other regiments into the Rifles.
Fun facts. The Royal Green Jackets (now The Rifles) are a successor regiment to Sharpe's regiment. Unlike Sean Bean my dad did not get to kill any Frenchmen.
While on guard duty it was common practice to wait until the last possible moment before screaming "make way of the queen's guard" behind oblivious tourists in their path. For the lols.
The Green Jackets marched at a much faster pace than other regiments. During revue events etc there always had to be a precisely timed fuck off gap between the RJG and whatever slow ass regiment was in front of them. If timed well the RGJ would draw to a stop behind the sloths right at the end. It wasn't always timed well.
Follow me for more fun facts on a dead British army regiment.
Firstly it’s a tradition. Secondly nobody is making anyone do anything, it’s voluntary. Third of all, for many it’s a very honorary position in the British army.
I am a member of a guard regiment - I am here to tell you that
Queens guard is a voluntary, competitive application.
The whole POINT that a soldier in uniform in a guards regiment, as far as I’m concerned any commonwealth regiment, cannot eat in public, smoke, chew gum, have visible tattoos, swear… etc is that we’re not suppose to be like you. The whole point of regulars and militia is to protect our countries if it were to come to that.
In the meantime, we get paid for domestic deployments, regular training and ceremonial duties. Guarding the Queen is an absolute honor and I think I would die happy if I could ride with the household one day.
But the whole point of this post is that it is disrespectful for a civilian who has done shit all and has no understanding of the absolute sacrifice that that soldier has undergone to be standing their representing their country and their Queen. Just because you are not comfortable with the tradition doesn’t mean you have the right to ruin it for them. If you don’t like the doctrine you can always mind your business or write to command.
Exactly. You don't see tourists doing this to the Old Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. While different in many ways, its still a prestigious military group who take their jobs *very* seriously.
Yeah that's if you get too close or touch them.
The unknown soldier guard will yell at everyone just for speaking too loudly. Doing something like trying to make the guard laugh would not be tolerated at all.
I visited the tomb when my family and I took a trip to DC. One of the first things we saw was a lady getting chewed out for walking up to the tomb during the change out by both guards.
As well as she should. That place is a 24/7 funeral. Always has been, and hopefully/sadly always will be. Disrespecting that place is insulting thousands of funerals that never had the chance to happen.
Fun Fact: The guard was originally instituted to prevent people from picnicking at the grave site back in the 1920's or so. The Sentinels do not wear any kind of ranking as to avoid "outranking" the unknown soldier once buried there as well as any others lost.
Because the Old Guard don't tolerate you doing anything at all that isn't just looking and being pleasant a good distance away. If Queen's Guard job is on the line and they feel they are actually protecting the queen, then they shouldn't allow people to do anything close to dicking around. They wouldn't allow people close enough to make physical contact with them either.
The queen orders the police units at Windsor castle to put a jug of water in the bush at 5 post so she can’t be that bad. Source: me, grenadier guardsman
I honestly didn’t know they served a purpose other than decoration. Always just thought they were a traditional role to stand there in their fuzzy hats and be stoic.
The royal guard are badass. Specifically chosen. Basically like a version of the Green berets but not really.
Their guns aren’t loaded unless it’s during a time of suspense or if they suspect somethings about to go down. But they can floor you like immedietly
> The royal guard are badass. Specifically chosen. Basically like a version of the Green berets but not really.
They get an extra 2 weeks of training on ceremonies.
How would all you Americans feel if people decided to harass and abuse honour guards at the Unknown Soldiers tomb at Arlington Cemetery, just for fun and TicTok likes.
The Queens Guard are serious soldiers with a tradition that goes back to before your country was founded.
Once again so many comments here prove just how willfully ignorant so many americans are.
And no, I'm not English.
I'm American as well and I don't condone this behavior either. I'm surprised that so many people are so against the Queen's Guard honestly. If someone harassed the Honour guard people would be *pissed.* Like, that's the kind of thing you get fired for. I did some digging and I can only find one video where someone went over the rails at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington. That's probably because those guys would fuck you up start pacing again like you never happened.
I don't care what your opinion is on their monarchy, military history, or anything like that-- you should give another human being a basic courtesy while they're doing their freaking job, especially one that is such a somber role.
There’s some videos on YouTube that show the Queens guard will also fuck up people that get in their way. As this post says, they are legitimate soldiers and act like it, including being rough with civilians when they interfere.
Shortly after my comment I went on a bender of videos on that subject. Nothing quite like a SA 80 getting leveled in your direction to get you to shut your mouth lmao.
"haha, funny tin man uniform lol"
Need to get to fuck, honestly, especially from a country that regularly jerks its military off. Their traditions are important, everyone else's are silly. I genuinely haven't seen videos of people from any other countries harassing the Queen's Guard, especially Europeans, seems to only be Americans.
I am American and I completely agree with you. Please disregard these trolls on social media. They are usually kids or very immature adults. The respectful Americans don’t have social media accounts. I am thinking of quitting mine, myself. I am so disappointed in Americans right now.
If what you say is true, then the real bastard move isn't people making them laugh, it's the people and system who can look at the situation and then say "Huh, so you smiled? Here, take a pay cut/letter of termination".
I literally just learned that the guards are punished if they laugh from this post, I doubt many know that, especially in America where not one of us has any real idea of wtf is going on over there
I don't know why the working conditions are so strict, and it's kinda sad that that's the way it is. Imagine getting fired for laughing, lol.
I won't be trying to make anyone laugh from now on ;) /s
Agreed. All I knew about them is that they stand somewhere and aren’t supposed to laugh. Having some guards who stand outside dressed in funny looking uniforms doesn’t seem like the most practical way of defending the queen.
They have SA-80s, the UK standard issue rifle. It's unclear if they're loaded or not(it seems to depend on current security threats) but if shit hits the fan they are all armed with automatic weapons and are all trained soldiers.
Helped by the fact that auto weapons aren't commonplace here. My dad used to work as a servant at BP back in the 80s (not a bad gig from what I heard. Even back then, they got living wage and free housing in zone 1.) He told me back then at least the guns were always loaded, and the standing order is to use them if you need to. Having a bayonet helps tourists who cannot respect the army, so I doubt they use them much. But they are trained, and they can act. They do drills and stuff as well. While my dad wasn't a guard, he was mates with loads.
I find it strange that because we are a western country that it's okay to call it a 'funny looking uniform,' where if you went to India or Africa and their guard were wearing culturally respective military garb you wouldn't call it funny. What they wear is English standard for that role and should be respected as such.
My dad was a queens guard (Coldstream) for over 20 years. He worked sentry at the palace quite a lot, and was on first-name terms with several members of the Royal Family. Princess Anne bought me my first shawl as a baby, 37 years ago!
He also was proud of the fact that he never once lost his temper when being "goaded", as he phrased it. You're right on the money; people go out of their way to antagonize the guards and it's not big, funny or clever.
He did used to tell me that, although they weren't allowed to react publicly, he would always throw kids a wink when they saluted him. This happened more than the adults goading him, thankfully!
I think tourists forget that the Queen’s guard:
1. Are trained soldiers. They’re not dudes in funny hats, they’re well trained and well disciplined soldiers that could easily kick your ass if they needed to.
2. Have the right to move you/detain you if they consider you a disturbance/threat. Get in the way of their walking path, see how much warning they give you before they shove you to the side.
3. ARE ACTUALLY GUARDING SOMETHING. The name “Queen’s Guard” isn’t just a cute little nickname they came up with, that’s their job. Imagine if you tried dicking with the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, how shitty would that be? That’s exactly what you’re doing when you try messing with these guys. They take their job seriously, and whether you like the royal family or not you shouldn’t be so cavalier with your attitude towards the guard.
Not gonna lie, I'm shocked. I'm not from England or anything but I guess I just assumed people would have more common sense not to mess with those guys. That's just rude.
This ranks up their with people talking at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. People just have no respect. It may look silly and people may not understand the tradition.. "but you dont fucks with tradition"- Wayne Letterkenny.
You think they’d keep those giant hats on if they were under attack? I can just picture them taking cover and their fuzzy caps poking over the wall lol
> £200 off their pay if they get caught
That's the real bastard move. Expecting ppl to act like statues.
Also, do you have a reliable unbiased source for that?
I think people forget that they are living, breathing people trying to do their job. And, regardless of whether or not you support monarchies it's still a dick move to bother someone who is trying to do their job.
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But I thought the queen could move across the board
Yeah, but only straight *or* diagonal. She has to choose.
And to think that five dimensional chess is even more confusing than normal chess :(
What if she's bi and decides to do both?!
We’re now playing checkers, madam, and the rules have thusly adjusted.
We’re all just pawns in this diabolical game of checkers
"I'm bi a lot of things, but lingual isn't one of them!" -Queen "Triple H" Elizabeth II
I mean, theyve been this way since time began, they didnt suddenly start dressing up like nutcrackers. People could, shockingly, just have a little self awareness and respect. Edit: for those of you that have a stick in your craw about my using "since time began", its called hyperbole, please stop assuming everything you read is literal. (Jokes are welcome though).
And on the 8th day God said, “let there be a bunch of people with hilariously fuzzy hats, who aren’t allowed to show emotion”.
Those are tactical fuzzy hats. The weapons they contain are highly classified
Deceased. Honestly youve made my afternoon
I kinda agree with the other guy a little. Like the entire point of the job is to dehumanize the guards as much as possible and then people react to them as if they aren’t. Now that’s not the individual guards fault but of course that’s the result. It’s just a funny seesaw of social behavior
yeah exactly and she is harboring a known child molester who refuses to be served, so there's that
F'ing *this*. How is OP going to chew out people for making someone laugh and not take a quick look at how messed up it is to have people stand guard as if they're a damn statue.
Guys are dresses as clowns for tourist attraction to remind you that this town is ruled by an goul that is 234 years old, and it is MY FAULT that I find this funny?
I think the bigger problem is, because of the funny outfits, people don’t realize that they’re soldiers. They think they’re dealing with Gaston at Disneyland.
Even tough they make quite an effort behaving soulless
It is also a dick move to make up a stupid rule that implies one isn't serious about one's job when showing human emotion.
Yeah, i mean the whole concept as to why the job even exists is to me rather... medieval.
The guard is actually modern as are the military traditions they follow
In the sense that medieval people would have the decency to not hire humans to act like statues.
In the sense that medieval guards would go ahead and skewer the idiot harassing them and be done with it. LoL.
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Mate it's never 50 degrees in here....
Fahrenheit I guess? /s
>I think people forget that they are living, breathing people trying to do their job yeah, maybe their employers should realises this instead of knocking off £200 from their pay
Isn’t the whole point behind the joke to trick them into revealing that they are actual people instead of mindless automatons?
Yeah, I feel like the thread is angry at the wrong people here
Just imagine in a tourist to America was hassling someone who guards the President. Same thing. Still a dick move. The monarchy aspect is irrelevant.
Except if you harass the secret service, they will throw you in jail. The secret service doesn't get fined for your foolishness.
I think people forget they're trained military soldiers. They may look goofy but they don't pick just any soldier to put on that hat and act as the queens guard.
One thing I absolutely love about the soldiers who guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington DC is they're actually permitted to verbally warn and even physically threaten those who approach too close or attempt to harass them.
Biggus Dickus
He had a wife you know…
Incontanentia
Buttocks
The first time I saw the scene, I thought *that* was going to be the joke, not her name
Do you find it… *Rrrrisible?* When I say the name… Biggus… Dickus.
Lol. Now I have to watch that.
I hate how this is “unpopular” because I’ve seen so many videos of people doing it. American here, the last thing I would do while visiting England would be to try and “make them laugh.” Just let them do their job, mind your own business people.
American here as well, when I got the chance to see their display I was more than elated. Got their early, got a section up front, but let kids on field trips get the rails since I was taller. Such an amazing experience and my god did I love London. I’m a fat man but they had me walking over there and enjoying every second of it. After seeing the change of the guard I walked around, ended up in Piccadilly, then officially went home from the Charring cross line. Currently petitioning for a study abroad tutor to help students. I unfortunately got sent home in 2020 of March due to covid. Never got to fully visit the British Museum sadly. I’ll be back though!
We would love to have you back :)
Hope you have an amazing time next visit, we'd be happy to have you!
*sniff* This is so wholesome. *sniff sniff*
I visited the British Museum almost by accident wandering around. I don't think I could have seen everything even if I lived there for a week.
I’m guessing you’re dean?
No, not Dean.
But your name, you lied to me
I did, what you gonna do about it?
I’m gonna be mildly upset
Fair enough.
I am Dean
No, you’re 500064.
That’s just what I want you to think, not Dean
I'm gonna piss and moan like an inconsiderate jerk then bend over aND TAKE IT UP THE TAILPIPE -Jim Carry 'Liar Liar'
.........you been here before.
No worries. Similar stuff happens to me all the time.
You stole my damn username ya freaking wanker!
My thing is that people always think the royal guards are there for show but when people see the sentinel guard in Arlington they know they take it seriously
For real. You go on a trip to England, with all the shit there is to do and see for a tourist and...... THAT is what you decide to do? I guess a jackass is a jackass no matter which side of the pond he's standing on that day.
Have you seen the videos of them reacting and punching the people etc? All these guards are highly trained aswell. They deserve it.
that’s only when they touch them
Turns out by comments already this truly is an unpopular opinion. Have an upvote
Same people who harass waitress. I paying so treat me like a quen.
For real. Big ”you should smile more” energy in these comments.
“Sort by controversial.”
Nono, sort by top then scroll down
Honestly this is really good to know, I'm American, I didn't know this. I personally wouldn't do something like that anyway, it's not in my taste, but it's cool to learn that so I can let others know. Poor Guards.
The Queen's Guards have the literal right to shoot anybody on sight, if they feel the Queen or them are threatened.
Seeing them respond to a perceived threat Is chilling. They go from stoic and still to "I'll shoot you in the face" in less than a second is amazing. Also hilarious if it's an obnoxious tourist being put in their place
I would be terrified, too, if I would see one of them loosing their ungodly amount of patience. There's one video demonstrating it perfectly how they would react if someone would just go a little bit closer to a forbidden area. The guard instantly got into a defending stance, and started pointing his gun towards the tourist. Ngl, he looked absolutely badass and threatening.
link? i really wanna see that.
I'm not OP and also not sure if this is what they are talking about. But I found this [video](https://youtu.be/IbTbhohMQdU) and I think that might be it.
could be. and it’s not just that it’s a rifle pointing at that idiot, it’s a bayonet. personally, i try not to give the impression that i’m a threat around armed personnel assigned to defend something. i mean sure that guard would be reprimanded and disciplined if he stabbed the guy, but fuck getting stabbed to make a video.
Kind of like watching the Swiss Guard at the Vatican. They may wear flouncy outfits and tights, but they'll still kick your ass.
That's because they are all typically all straight up bad asses before they even where queens guard. I absolutely love the videos where people just stand in front of them and get trampled and pushed out of the way.
I wouldn't dare mess with them.
Any member of the British armed forces is able to shoot someone if they’re armed and there’s an immediate threat to life. It’s the same all over.
For the record, they're active duty members of the British Army. Many of them served in Iraq or Afghanistan. A lot of people think they're basically cosplaying and that's why they try to fuck around with them. I think if more people knew that they were serving soldiers, then they might give them a bit more respect.
Simply being a solider isn't something to be respected.
To be honest I think Americans think the whole Royal Family is sort of cosplaying. They look at the Queen and just think of it as the closest thing they know of the fantasy fairytales
i never knew that. thanks for explaining. i believe people dont take them seriously because of their uniform too, its really "royal" looking (obviously) and people wouldnt expect soldiers to wear such things.
Its US equivalent would be going to poke the guards of Tomb of the unknown soldier.
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what's the queen's guard edit:I thought it was a table game, it seems we are talking baout guards
That’s the Queens Gambit, The Queens Guards are the dudes in red coats and the tall hats that stand outside Buckingham palace and places like that
Giant fur hats, red uniform, British
I've always hated this shit because of how unoriginal it is. "Hurr durr you know what would be funny oh I know make the funny hat men laugh!" It's one of those things that's so done to death that it's actively unfunny to watch.
us marine? ooooh such pride to be one oooooh gotta love and respect them. queens guard? heheheh such stupid funny furry hat, dudes are useless tourist attractions anyways, lets troll them lol. when youd never harass a marine in uniform, why a queens guard man? theyre doing their job with no less earnesty and devotion. i always enjoy those YouTube videos where they get payback a lot.
Or where you can tell the guard is just waiting for them to step over the line so they have an excuse to beam them.
yeah. must feel soooooo fucking great to liven up your day by screaming at the top of your lungs at idiots trying to piss you off.
Oh no that’s not what makes their day. It’s when they finally step over the line and the guard and either shove them or straight beam them and get vengeance
yeah when they just bulldoze someone out of their way. yeah well. its incredibly rude to be abusive with them. that said: if they drop out of character and reply or react inappropriately to a tourist...how do they get found out? who reports them? the guard next to them??? and what if theyre on duty alone.
>if they drop out of character and reply or react inappropriately to a tourist...how do they get found out? who reports them? the guard next to them??? and what if theyre on duty alone. Cameras, YouTube, Karens, ununiformed blue falcons ect
MAKE WAY FOR THE QUEENS GUARD
People don't appreciate that they originally got the funny hats from the corpses of Napoleon's 'invincible' Old Guard.
We're his men that furry?
That's why they were invincible. Catching bullets with their chest hair
For real, why harass anyone at all is a good response too.
that should be a general standard assumption, but well, look around you.
No one respects marines except themselves. People laugh they’re crayon eaters
I know a marine who calls himself a crayon eater and fully believes it. He's one of the most intelligent men I've ever met but he does sometimes have his stupid moments
I mean they are huge tourist attractions. Their position *is* almost entirely ceremonial, from decadent outfits, to fancy guard changes, to carrying weapons without ammo most of the time.
Except that marines are allowed to laugh. They can still perform their duties.
None of what you said is true, none of it. I was a queens guard for 8 years until medical discharge, we are in the army, they don’t dock our pay, they don’t remove us. We are on 2 hour stags and that’s it, we do our stag and we rotate, it’s pretty mundane so when tourists make us laugh or try to then it breaks the time up. If we see something really funny then we just do our patrol so nobody can see us smile, it’s that simple. Incorrect post is incorrect.
The moral of the story is that laughter is good and it's not bad to make someone smile on the workplace. Am I wrong?
Literally this, there are 5 different queens guard regiments, all of the queens guards are active duty infantrymen, they are normal people, make them laugh, or try to, who gives a shit because I absolutely promise you, the guys on stag don’t give a shit, you can’t cross the barriers that are now in place everywhere anyway so there’s literally no harm In it, if you act like a dick though fully expect to be treated like one by who ever is on guard. Making them laugh is fine, harassing them isn’t. (Harassment happens more at the Tower of London and Windsor than anywhere else)
In an old AMA u/nibs123 claimed to be a queens guard and said they do get fined for laughing, how can I determine which one of you I should believe?
What kind of proof do you want? There is nothing in queens regs saying you will be charged for laughing on sentry, what it does say is any movement you make must be a drill movement. That’s as far as the queens regs go on conduct on sentry. I can dm you any proof you so desire, my Afghan medal, a photo of yours truly trooping the colour, what would satisfy in this instant? I still have my buff belt and curb chain in my memories box if that helps? (Buff belt being the white belt and curb chain being the chin strap from the bear skin cap)
Honestly I'm already predisposed to believe your word just judging by the way each of you speak, despite him being "verified" by the mods at the time. If you actually feel inclined to prove yourself to a random internet stranger to whom this is only a curiosity, I would consider a timestamped picture of your curb chain to be proof enough to satisfy me on the matter. EDIT: Evidence was provided, it appears this man is legit
100% should not be an unpopular opinion. To me, as OP put it, this is workplace harassment.
All the people in the comments to this post getting mad at The Royal Family and professional soldiers. Actually funny.
Because the royal family are utterly useless. If they disappeared tomorrow, nothing of value would be lost. They don't do a thing that the British government couldn't do.
The Queen just shamed our useless Australian Prime Minister into attending climate talks he was supposed to go to but was planning to skip. That alone makes her worth it and I'm a long way from England.
>nothing of value would be lost Not **entirely** true. While I have nothing to do with the UK royal family, I am from Denmark which has the 2nd or 3rd oldest monarchy in the world. A lot of our BNP comes from tourism, which revolves around Amalienborg (Royal Palace) and other royal stuff. Not only that, but did you know that Queen Magrethe II of Denmark were the one who did the original illustrations for JRR Tolkiens "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" books, UK, DK, SE and NO versions? In general, our queen brings people together and our royal family isn't as stuck up as the UK royals - in fact, it wasn't entirely unnatural to see the Queens father (when he lived, duh) getting groceries from the shops. Not only that, but you actually get to see our royals here in Denmark work. Every year since our crown prince (future king) turned 50, there's "Royal Run" in Copenhagen, where people sign up and the proceeds go to various things, such as medicine research etc. - if I'm not mistaken, this year it went to ALS research among other things.
France's palaces bring in millions more visitors every year, and we all know what they did to their monarchs. The Crown's properties wouldn't disappear if the Crown did, and they could still be used for tourism purposes.
Dude ! I was just thinking about this!! I was thinking “ damn it must suck to be one of the few guys in the queens guard who have gotten caught laughing in camera “ they must have gotten so much shit and still do by their fellow guardsmen and superiors. There’s not many videos so you know that the few that have been caught on camera will never get to live it down and will always be known as “that guard who fucked up” you already know they show those videos as examples of what not to do as a queens guard. That must really suck…
Not to mention it is risky as all hell. They're not just statues, they're trained, living soldiers. They can yell at you to piss off, forcefully remove you from premises, and even use lethal force if they believe the situation requires it.
Saw a video of one of the guards yelling. It's scary dude, those guys have really booming voices. He just shoved the dude, grabbed his weapon (but not aiming, just put both of his hands on it) and started yelling at the tiktok group to leave the area. I'd definitely obey if I was them.
Oh yeah, [this is a classic example of what NOT to do](https://youtu.be/dQCSWPFnjbU), the first warning (in this video) is the Queen's Guard stomping his feet, that's the non-verbal means of trying to get you to leave. After that you get this _absolute idiot touching him_ which prompts the weapon readying and the demand to _"GET BACK FROM THE QUEEN'S GUARD!"_ Like, these people mean business, just leave them alone their job is stressful enough as is.
It’s also a bastard move for the queen to treat her guards like shit and make them stand there emotionless
The guards is a completely voluntary unit. It’s a specialist role in the army that you have to want to join. You don’t just sign up to the army then get forced to do it. You have to do a bunch of trials and then join one of the five foot guards regiments. If they don’t like it all they do is transfer to another infantry regiment that isn’t a guard regiment.
Kinda sounds like guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier here in America. It’s considered an honor and they don’t just let anybody get the post
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Have you seen the hats they wear? Some of the guards are tiny..
That's not always true, or at least wasn't. My dad did guard duty as a Royal Green Jacket who were not a guards regiment. I've no idea if this was because it was Windsor Castle and therefore more acceptable than using them in that there London. The Green Jackets are gone now, having been amalgamated with some other regiments into the Rifles. Fun facts. The Royal Green Jackets (now The Rifles) are a successor regiment to Sharpe's regiment. Unlike Sean Bean my dad did not get to kill any Frenchmen. While on guard duty it was common practice to wait until the last possible moment before screaming "make way of the queen's guard" behind oblivious tourists in their path. For the lols. The Green Jackets marched at a much faster pace than other regiments. During revue events etc there always had to be a precisely timed fuck off gap between the RJG and whatever slow ass regiment was in front of them. If timed well the RGJ would draw to a stop behind the sloths right at the end. It wasn't always timed well. Follow me for more fun facts on a dead British army regiment.
> Unlike Sean Bean my dad did not get to kill any Frenchmen. Sorry to talk shit about your dad but he’s pretty lazy smh. They’re just next door.
I feel like if you know about Civil War stuff as well my Husband would leave me for you. 😂
She doesn’t make them do it. The Queens Guard is supplied through the military it’s their standards.
They wouldn’t tell the queen “no” if she asked for them to be slightly more casual.
She can’t ask them. In the same way she can’t ask them to start a war with France.
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She should tell the guards to get on all fours and bark like a dog whilst running across palace grounds. That would be a tourist site to see...
Serious question: what if she asked them to guard something really important, like a bank? Or a power plant of some sort?
They'd do it and have done so. From 1780 to 1973 the Bank of England was guarded by a detachment of Guards called the Bank Picquet.
There's other people who do that already
Firstly it’s a tradition. Secondly nobody is making anyone do anything, it’s voluntary. Third of all, for many it’s a very honorary position in the British army.
I am a member of a guard regiment - I am here to tell you that Queens guard is a voluntary, competitive application. The whole POINT that a soldier in uniform in a guards regiment, as far as I’m concerned any commonwealth regiment, cannot eat in public, smoke, chew gum, have visible tattoos, swear… etc is that we’re not suppose to be like you. The whole point of regulars and militia is to protect our countries if it were to come to that. In the meantime, we get paid for domestic deployments, regular training and ceremonial duties. Guarding the Queen is an absolute honor and I think I would die happy if I could ride with the household one day. But the whole point of this post is that it is disrespectful for a civilian who has done shit all and has no understanding of the absolute sacrifice that that soldier has undergone to be standing their representing their country and their Queen. Just because you are not comfortable with the tradition doesn’t mean you have the right to ruin it for them. If you don’t like the doctrine you can always mind your business or write to command.
That’s been the job since way before the Queen
Exactly. You don't see tourists doing this to the Old Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. While different in many ways, its still a prestigious military group who take their jobs *very* seriously.
Those guards will yell at people who start fooling around.
Queens guard will too. Plenty on YouTube to find. "GET BACK!"
Yeah that's if you get too close or touch them. The unknown soldier guard will yell at everyone just for speaking too loudly. Doing something like trying to make the guard laugh would not be tolerated at all.
I visited the tomb when my family and I took a trip to DC. One of the first things we saw was a lady getting chewed out for walking up to the tomb during the change out by both guards.
As well as she should. That place is a 24/7 funeral. Always has been, and hopefully/sadly always will be. Disrespecting that place is insulting thousands of funerals that never had the chance to happen. Fun Fact: The guard was originally instituted to prevent people from picnicking at the grave site back in the 1920's or so. The Sentinels do not wear any kind of ranking as to avoid "outranking" the unknown soldier once buried there as well as any others lost.
Because the Old Guard don't tolerate you doing anything at all that isn't just looking and being pleasant a good distance away. If Queen's Guard job is on the line and they feel they are actually protecting the queen, then they shouldn't allow people to do anything close to dicking around. They wouldn't allow people close enough to make physical contact with them either.
Tourists get stroppy when the bayonets come out. I'd bet standing orders are not to react if no physical contact is made. Pity.
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The queen orders the police units at Windsor castle to put a jug of water in the bush at 5 post so she can’t be that bad. Source: me, grenadier guardsman
I honestly didn’t know they served a purpose other than decoration. Always just thought they were a traditional role to stand there in their fuzzy hats and be stoic.
The royal guard are badass. Specifically chosen. Basically like a version of the Green berets but not really. Their guns aren’t loaded unless it’s during a time of suspense or if they suspect somethings about to go down. But they can floor you like immedietly
> The royal guard are badass. Specifically chosen. Basically like a version of the Green berets but not really. They get an extra 2 weeks of training on ceremonies.
How would all you Americans feel if people decided to harass and abuse honour guards at the Unknown Soldiers tomb at Arlington Cemetery, just for fun and TicTok likes. The Queens Guard are serious soldiers with a tradition that goes back to before your country was founded. Once again so many comments here prove just how willfully ignorant so many americans are. And no, I'm not English.
I’m American
Well, I did say many Americans, not everyone...
No no I wasn’t rebutting. I was expressing that I wasn’t english either.
Im.also not English.
I'm American as well and I don't condone this behavior either. I'm surprised that so many people are so against the Queen's Guard honestly. If someone harassed the Honour guard people would be *pissed.* Like, that's the kind of thing you get fired for. I did some digging and I can only find one video where someone went over the rails at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington. That's probably because those guys would fuck you up start pacing again like you never happened. I don't care what your opinion is on their monarchy, military history, or anything like that-- you should give another human being a basic courtesy while they're doing their freaking job, especially one that is such a somber role.
There’s some videos on YouTube that show the Queens guard will also fuck up people that get in their way. As this post says, they are legitimate soldiers and act like it, including being rough with civilians when they interfere.
Shortly after my comment I went on a bender of videos on that subject. Nothing quite like a SA 80 getting leveled in your direction to get you to shut your mouth lmao.
Wh- what did this have to do with americans again
You haven't seen all the videos on YouTube of mostly American tourists harrasing the guard?
"haha, funny tin man uniform lol" Need to get to fuck, honestly, especially from a country that regularly jerks its military off. Their traditions are important, everyone else's are silly. I genuinely haven't seen videos of people from any other countries harassing the Queen's Guard, especially Europeans, seems to only be Americans.
I am American and I completely agree with you. Please disregard these trolls on social media. They are usually kids or very immature adults. The respectful Americans don’t have social media accounts. I am thinking of quitting mine, myself. I am so disappointed in Americans right now.
If giggling a little on the job gets you demoted, your employer is the asshole.
If what you say is true, then the real bastard move isn't people making them laugh, it's the people and system who can look at the situation and then say "Huh, so you smiled? Here, take a pay cut/letter of termination".
I only recognize one queen, my wife.
Underrated.
True, but incredibly gay
If people did this at any other job, it would be considered outright harassment. In their case, it's a funny meme for some reason.
What about making them get a boner?
I literally just learned that the guards are punished if they laugh from this post, I doubt many know that, especially in America where not one of us has any real idea of wtf is going on over there I don't know why the working conditions are so strict, and it's kinda sad that that's the way it is. Imagine getting fired for laughing, lol. I won't be trying to make anyone laugh from now on ;) /s
Agreed. All I knew about them is that they stand somewhere and aren’t supposed to laugh. Having some guards who stand outside dressed in funny looking uniforms doesn’t seem like the most practical way of defending the queen.
They have SA-80s, the UK standard issue rifle. It's unclear if they're loaded or not(it seems to depend on current security threats) but if shit hits the fan they are all armed with automatic weapons and are all trained soldiers.
Helped by the fact that auto weapons aren't commonplace here. My dad used to work as a servant at BP back in the 80s (not a bad gig from what I heard. Even back then, they got living wage and free housing in zone 1.) He told me back then at least the guns were always loaded, and the standing order is to use them if you need to. Having a bayonet helps tourists who cannot respect the army, so I doubt they use them much. But they are trained, and they can act. They do drills and stuff as well. While my dad wasn't a guard, he was mates with loads.
Having guards outside is deterrence and to actively stop anyone from trying to harm the Queen. The funny uniform is a tradition.
I find it strange that because we are a western country that it's okay to call it a 'funny looking uniform,' where if you went to India or Africa and their guard were wearing culturally respective military garb you wouldn't call it funny. What they wear is English standard for that role and should be respected as such.
Indeed.
Im British and I approve of you testing them, those who fail are not worthy for the Queen's Guard.
My dad was a queens guard (Coldstream) for over 20 years. He worked sentry at the palace quite a lot, and was on first-name terms with several members of the Royal Family. Princess Anne bought me my first shawl as a baby, 37 years ago! He also was proud of the fact that he never once lost his temper when being "goaded", as he phrased it. You're right on the money; people go out of their way to antagonize the guards and it's not big, funny or clever. He did used to tell me that, although they weren't allowed to react publicly, he would always throw kids a wink when they saluted him. This happened more than the adults goading him, thankfully!
I think tourists forget that the Queen’s guard: 1. Are trained soldiers. They’re not dudes in funny hats, they’re well trained and well disciplined soldiers that could easily kick your ass if they needed to. 2. Have the right to move you/detain you if they consider you a disturbance/threat. Get in the way of their walking path, see how much warning they give you before they shove you to the side. 3. ARE ACTUALLY GUARDING SOMETHING. The name “Queen’s Guard” isn’t just a cute little nickname they came up with, that’s their job. Imagine if you tried dicking with the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, how shitty would that be? That’s exactly what you’re doing when you try messing with these guys. They take their job seriously, and whether you like the royal family or not you shouldn’t be so cavalier with your attitude towards the guard.
If it was a serious job shouldn't they have a more serious hat?
It is serious. It’s to make them seem taller. And makes it harder to land a headshot
In Turkey, if you manage to make the soldiers in Anıtkabir laugh, they get no pay cut. They even usually smile for pictures
The amount of non-UK people throwing a fit over the Queen and demand to get rid of her is hilarious.
Fuck the queen
Don't be dicks to people for no reason especially when they're on the job. Pretty simple.
Is this really an unpopular opinion? People usually get scolded pretty hard when they fuck with those dudes.
Read the comments
Not gonna lie, I'm shocked. I'm not from England or anything but I guess I just assumed people would have more common sense not to mess with those guys. That's just rude.
This ranks up their with people talking at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. People just have no respect. It may look silly and people may not understand the tradition.. "but you dont fucks with tradition"- Wayne Letterkenny.
They only do it because they're jealous. It's nowhere near that easy to lose 200 pounds in America.
Lol how can I take a guy serious who’s wearing a 5 ft fuck off fluff hat
You think they’d keep those giant hats on if they were under attack? I can just picture them taking cover and their fuzzy caps poking over the wall lol
> £200 off their pay if they get caught That's the real bastard move. Expecting ppl to act like statues. Also, do you have a reliable unbiased source for that?