Changing of the Guards

The soldiers in the red jackets and furry, black hats seen outside of Buckingham Palace, St. James' Palace, and various other spots are the Queen's guard.   These guards are part of British tradition and are also active-duty soldiers.  Within the Queen's guards are five regiments of foot guards.  They are distinguished by slight differences in their uniforms.  To my eye, the most obvious difference is the buttons on their uniforms.

The guard pictured below is a Scots Guard.  You can tell because the buttons on his uniform are grouped in threes. 

He was standing guard at St. James' Palace.  I snapped his picture at the end of his duty.  The guards are behind ropes now due to past problems with tourists.   At the end of his duty, he and the other guards marched from St. James' Palace down the avenue to Buckingham Palace where they would go off duty and new guards would begin their duty.

Here is a short video of the guards marching to Buckingham Palace.