I'm sure most people are familiar with the Queen's Guard - the guys wearing that beautiful red uniform in Britain. And probably many know that St. James's Palace is where Prince Charles and the two princes hang out. Now the scene is set...
Apparently a tourist managed to work his way under the skin of one such guardsman and the guardsman took care of it. You can see video here. Not knowing what happened before or after the video makes it rather difficult to judge... but I'm siding with the guard on this one. Actually, most of the comments after the articles agree.
I've never made fun of the guards, (and would never!) however hubby has been known to though not in the same way as the kid above. It's more of a Royal Marine / Pongo thing. Almost as if they can't help it.
It's so untypical of the Guards to lose their cool but like anybody else I guess they have bad days.
Naughty Royal!
Posted by: Pat | January 26, 2009 at 05:40 AM
I know, you almost never hear of a guard retaliating. They are generally extremely self controlled (which is amazing to me!)
Yup, those Royal Marines and Army/Navy guys tangle from time to time -- usually all in good fun!
Posted by: Kath | January 30, 2009 at 10:14 AM
My hubby actually said this guy will definitely get reprimanded for that...the guard that is. What that other guy was doing was annoying, but definitely not a good reason to leave his post. He said people have done worse! What he did was not representing the Queen's Guard in a very good light. If the job is starting to get to him, he needs to transfer to somewhere else.
Posted by: Marci | January 31, 2009 at 02:58 AM
Marci, I'm sure your hubby is right. I can't see this guard receiving a pat on the back from his superiors (publicly, that is. Privately I imagine all his buddies are buying him pints! It must be a difficult, stressful - and for the most part boring - job.) What is that saying... hours of boredom followed by moments of sheer terror...
That is why I was so surprised while reading the comments, I expected the British public to be upset with the guard and instead they were cheering him on!
Thanks for commenting, Marci!
Posted by: Kath | January 31, 2009 at 11:04 AM