One of the cool things about our neighborhood is that it is home to the King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery. Very often the soldiers take the horses out for a romp in the neighborhood or we can see them on the way back from an official engagement of some kind. Part of their duties are ceremonial, they fire royal salutes, they provide gun carriages and teams of black horses for State and Military funerals. Queen Elizabeth's father, King George, had the unit formed in 1947 because he wanted a troop dressed in ceremonial garb to take part in all great ceremonies of state. He was so pleased with the unit that it became known as the King's Troop. When he died, as is customary, all things with the name King in them became Queen . . ., because the new monarch was a woman. However, knowing her father's fondness for this particular unit she decreed that it would continue to be known as King's Troop in honor of her father. Nice daughter, huh?
Last week, I happened to catch them coming through the streets on their
way back from some event. There is something surreal about going to the grocery store and having to wait for the horses and cannons to go through before you can enter the cross walk. I don't recall that ever happening
in California. They have been known to come down our street on the rare occasion. I have tried to take a picture but I am always out of battery when it happens!!!
So I read in the paper that Wednesday was the anniversary of the Queen's accession to the throne. In celebration the Troop was going to fire a 21 gun salute in her honor at Hyde Park. However, since Hyde Park is a royal park they throw in an extra 20 guns. I decided to head over because I wasn't sure when I would see a 41 gun salute again in my life.
I was surprised that there weren't more people. I spoke with a police officer and asked if there would be a crowd and he assured me there wouldn't be. Really, I was surprised. He said this type of salute wasn't very well attended. There would be some honored guests but that was it. Honored guests!! Maybe someone royal? No, he didn't think so. Well I could hope. So I wandered over where the honored guest area was all set up. Did that for 2 reasons. One , if someone royal was there - better vantage point to gawk and stalk. Secondly, I figured where they set up the honored guests probably would have the best view of the festivities. Otherwise if you were an honored guest and you couldn't really see anything, you wouldn't feel very honored or the people doing the set up job just weren't very good.
The salute was set to go off at 12 noon. The band marched in about 11:30 and
started playing. I thought the band was pretty interesting. At first, I just thought it was an ordinary band that they assigned the duty to. But actually I think this was the Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery's own band. My reasoning? The spurs. Not too much need for the trombone player to usually have spurs, right? The honored guests came in about 15 
minutes before on mini-buses. Mini-buses. No famous peoples or royals as far as I could tell. Apparently it was a formal occasion. You can't really tell from this picture, but the men were wearing mourning jackets. The ladies were mostly wearing fancy suits and hats. That is how you can tell it is a fancy do in England, if the ladies are wearing hats. Because it is a daytime formal occasion the men wear bowler hats. If it was at night, they would wear the top hats.
So the troops come thundering into the park at about 11:50. They set up the
cannons, which takes all of about 3 minutes and then they have to wait. And wait. And wait. When the King's Troop says the salute will be at 12 noon, they mean 12noon and not a second sooner or later. I spied one of the leaders watching his watch very carefully. At exactly 12 noon, the first of six cannons went off. As you can imagine, it was pretty loud. Then the next, then the next. It was all pretty efficient. I think the whole 
thing was over in about 15 minutes.
But not until the marching band led the way, playing Mary Poppins tunes. (Huh?) Oh well, I love a parade.
Last week, I happened to catch them coming through the streets on their
way back from some event. There is something surreal about going to the grocery store and having to wait for the horses and cannons to go through before you can enter the cross walk. I don't recall that ever happening
in California. They have been known to come down our street on the rare occasion. I have tried to take a picture but I am always out of battery when it happens!!!
So I read in the paper that Wednesday was the anniversary of the Queen's accession to the throne. In celebration the Troop was going to fire a 21 gun salute in her honor at Hyde Park. However, since Hyde Park is a royal park they throw in an extra 20 guns. I decided to head over because I wasn't sure when I would see a 41 gun salute again in my life.
I was surprised that there weren't more people. I spoke with a police officer and asked if there would be a crowd and he assured me there wouldn't be. Really, I was surprised. He said this type of salute wasn't very well attended. There would be some honored guests but that was it. Honored guests!! Maybe someone royal? No, he didn't think so. Well I could hope. So I wandered over where the honored guest area was all set up. Did that for 2 reasons. One , if someone royal was there - better vantage point to gawk and stalk. Secondly, I figured where they set up the honored guests probably would have the best view of the festivities. Otherwise if you were an honored guest and you couldn't really see anything, you wouldn't feel very honored or the people doing the set up job just weren't very good.
The salute was set to go off at 12 noon. The band marched in about 11:30 and
started playing. I thought the band was pretty interesting. At first, I just thought it was an ordinary band that they assigned the duty to. But actually I think this was the Kings Troop Royal Horse Artillery's own band. My reasoning? The spurs. Not too much need for the trombone player to usually have spurs, right? The honored guests came in about 15 
minutes before on mini-buses. Mini-buses. No famous peoples or royals as far as I could tell. Apparently it was a formal occasion. You can't really tell from this picture, but the men were wearing mourning jackets. The ladies were mostly wearing fancy suits and hats. That is how you can tell it is a fancy do in England, if the ladies are wearing hats. Because it is a daytime formal occasion the men wear bowler hats. If it was at night, they would wear the top hats.So the troops come thundering into the park at about 11:50. They set up the
cannons, which takes all of about 3 minutes and then they have to wait. And wait. And wait. When the King's Troop says the salute will be at 12 noon, they mean 12noon and not a second sooner or later. I spied one of the leaders watching his watch very carefully. At exactly 12 noon, the first of six cannons went off. As you can imagine, it was pretty loud. Then the next, then the next. It was all pretty efficient. I think the whole 
thing was over in about 15 minutes.
But not until the marching band led the way, playing Mary Poppins tunes. (Huh?) Oh well, I love a parade.
2 comments:
Still love reading your blog and you are mastering the new camera quite well. At least I can live vicariously through your travels!We miss you guys!
Hi there,
What a great post. I can't believe I took it so much for granted when living and working in London. Glas yo are enjoying it.
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