Hello sailor! Navy Changes the Guard at Palace
ROYAL Navy sailors performed the Changing the Guard outside Buckingham Palace for the first time in 357 years yesterday.
Crowds gathered to watch the sailors march out for an historic first.
Eighty-six sailors from 45 Royal Navy ships and bases had spent a month learning the intricate routines.
The sailors trained at the Navy’s Portsmouth HQ, with their skills being polished by drill instructors from the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards.
Thousands watched as they marched through the famous gates to the theme tune of Game Of Thrones.
Warrant Officer Eddie Wearing, the Navy’s state ceremonial training officer, said: “To be the conducting warrant officer for the first mount ever in the Royal Navy is a massive privilege and an honour. It’s daunting, but I’m very excited.”
Changing the Guard has been taking place since King Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660.
Lieutenant Commander Steve Elliott was Captain of the Queen’s Guard. “As we march out of the Wellington Barracks for the first time I’m fairly sure everyone will feel an enormous sense of pride,” he said.
But soldiers from the Grenadier Guards, one of the five foot regiments of the Household Division that usually perform the ceremony, were not worried they would be upstaged.
One said: “They won’t ever be able to do it like the Grenadiers can.
“We popped in to the barracks last night and they were dead nervous. They’ve only had a month to train.”
Another joked: “It’s about time we let them have a turn.”
The occasion was part of 2017’s “Year of the Navy” celebrations.
It marks the arrival of several new ships to the fleet, including the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.