Queen’s Guard halts to mark IRA’S victims

CHANGING of the guard was delayed yesterday as the Household Cavalry marked the 40th anniversary of the IRA bombing which killed four soldiers and seven horses.

The Queen’s Life Guard paused at the Hyde Park memorial where a nail bomb was detonated on July 20 1982 as they rode towards Buckingham Palace from their barracks in Knightsbridge.

They performed a royal salute and lowered the regimental standard as a fanfare was performed by trumpeters.

It meant the changing of the guard was put back by 30 minutes to 11.30am, an alteration that happens only rarely, on special occasions.

The short ceremony, attended by the Princess Royal, Colonel of the Blues and Royals, was designed to reflect the events of 1982. Soldiers attended in all manner of uniforms, from ceremonial to combat, to reflect how members of the regiment dropped formalities and rushed to the scene of the bombing.

Among participants was Brigadier Andrew Parker-bowles, the first husband of the Duchess of Cornwall, who was the commanding officer of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment at the time of the bombing.

The Last Post sounded, followed by a minute’s silence, before Princess Anne and eight survivors of the attack laid a wreath. The widows of the four victims each laid a white rose and the names of the victims were read out – Roy Bright, 36, Dennis Daly, 23, Simon Tipper, 19, and Jeffrey Young, 19.