It’s a lot to bear in mind

THE new recruits are finally being kitted out with their ceremonial uniforms in this week’s episode of THE QUEEN’S GUARDS: A YEAR IN SERVICE (C5, 8pm). They’ll each be issued with one of those famous red tunics for the summer. For the winter they’ll have a lovely, smart greatcoat.And as headgear, of course, each guardsman will be given one of those magnificent bearskins.

Throw in the cape, the braces, the buff belt, the buff frock, the gloves and the unique red plume and you’re looking at an outfit that would set you back the best part of £5,000, in the admittedly quite unlikely event that you popped out to buy one yourself.

As you can imagine, it’s an immensely proud moment for these men.

Particularly for one young chap, guardsman Rob Cheesbrough, who’s looking to follow in the footsteps of his high-achieving father. “It does feel like there’s a bit of pressure on my shoulders,” Rob admits.

“It’s like David Beckham’s son. Can you expect him to be a professional footballer? It’s a similar sort of thing.”

Talking of pressure, the fitting of that uniform is a process which, if you’re new to all this, it’s vital you get spot-on. For heaven’s sake, don’t rush things.

Make sure everything sits correctly on you and looks right.

Don’t utter: “That’ll do Sarge, I’m sure I’ll grow into it,” nothing like that.

You’ll only regret it. Especially when it comes to your bearskin. Come away with one that’s too big for your head and, well, that’s not going to be a great look, is it?

Come away with one that’s too small, mind you, and the consequences could be even worse.

“If the bearskin’s too tight,” explains their new section commander, the rather brilliantly named Sgt Courage (surely that’s a Marvel comics character crying out to be created), “what it’ll do in the hot weather is squeeze on the head.

“That’s when you tend to find the guardsmen start fainting on parades, on Trooping the Colour.

“If you do go down on parade, it’s one of those things you’ll never live down.” Also, of course, there’s the pressure of keeping your uniform spick and span.

Again, it’s that headgear you need to pay particularly close attention to. TLC-wise.

“You wash your bearskin the same as you would your own hair,” Sgt Courage demonstrates, “with warm water in the shower.

“And you need to make sure you wash the shampoo out properly. If you don’t wash the shampoo out properly and it starts raining, it’ll start foaming on your head.”

Also: “Don’t start trimming your bearskins either.They don’t grow back…”