At 16:00 every day, the Dismounting Ceremony – sometimes called the Punishment Ceremony, takes place in the courtyard that faces Whitehall.
This ceremony is an official inspection of both Mounted and Dismounted members of the Household Cavalry, before members of the Cavalry, on foot (known as Dismounted Sentries), take over the job of protecting the entrance to Buckingham Palace until 11:00 the next day.
It is sometimes called the Punishment Parade because, in the 1890s, Queen Victoria came to Whitehall to see the Household Cavalry and was shocked to find them drinking and gambling while on duty!
She demanded that an official inspection of the guards should be carried out, every day, at 16:00 for the next 100 years – a tradition that has yet to cease.
Just as with the hourly ceremony, the Guards on horseback lead their mounts out of the guard boxes, make a U-turn, and return to the courtyard.
They remain there, while a group of Dismounted Sentries emerge from within the stables area and form a line.
They are all formally, and fully, inspected before being given permission to return to the building and take charge of the area.
Two of them will remain, on foot, in the courtyard until 20:00, and after that, one Dismounted Sentry will stay in the courtyard until 7:00 the next morning (these duties will be shared by the whole group of Guards, each doing an hour shift).
Then it is the turn of the two Mounted Sentries to be inspected.
When approved, they then sheathe their swords, dismount, and take their horses into the stables and the Dismounting Ceremony is complete.
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