The gates at Horseguards Parade are open, from 7:00 – 20:00 daily, and Mounted Sentries stay in position, guarding the entrance to Buckingham Palace, at the front courtyard from 11:00 (10:00 on Sundays) until 16:00.
While the mounted guards are present, there is a small, but still very interesting, ceremony that takes place every hour in the courtyard.
This ceremony is easily viewed by the public and you can actually get quite close to the action!
From 11:00, the Mounted Sentries are positioned in two guard boxes on either side of the main gates, facing Whitehall.
Each guard box enclosure has a door on one side, and an opening on the other, where the guards face out onto the street (and where tourists get their photos!
But carefully – the horses can bite!) The guards, on horseback, stay there – unmoving – for an hour, before they are replaced by two new guards.
Firstly, the doors on the back of the guard boxes are opened, then, two members of the Household Cavalry, on horseback, come out of the nearby stables, ready to begin their shift.
They are followed by another Guard, on foot, who inspects the soldiers, their uniform, their weapons, and the horses.
Then, the two guards on horseback head for the back of the two guard boxes.
The soldiers who are being relieved, walk their houses straight out of the guard boxes, make a U-turn, and go straight back into the courtyard.
The new guards urge their horses forward, and they then stand in the now-vacant guard boxes and the box doors are closed behind them – they are now on sentry duty for the next 60 minutes.
The soldiers who have just been relieved, halt in the courtyard, sheathe their swords, dismount, and take their horses back to the stables.
