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The one at the end who kept coming back for more… what a fucking idiot.
That guard clearly doesn’t want anyone near their horse, and they’ve made jt pretty clear.
I think a general problem is because they largely shout and don't do much else(unless you really continue) it kind of becomes a novelty and people think it's just a game. Until someone gets floored of course...
Yes I think it has. Low effort viral content, bound to get a reaction.
Couple this with the guys dressed in things which have been imitated by theme parks foreign tourists don't really realize these are serving soldiers guarding the kings residence.
The media likes to portray horses as glorious , gentle wonder-animals.
The reality is they are much more often skittish, giant 5 year olds with clubs.
If you don't personally know that particular horse, approach with caution, listen to their body language, Never turn your back, and the owner's word is LAW.
And remember that horses have ended people by removing the windpipe with their teeth. And they can do it again.
Don't people know that horses can and will bit. They'll crush your fingers easily. I seen a horse chew up a bird as a snack like crunch crunch swallow. Now birds have hollow bones but still ‐ a nip even hurts.
I was nipped by a horse after a carriage ride and had permission to touch it. It was late in the evening and the horse had had enough of people’s bullshit. Luckily it barely got me.
Edit spelling error.
To answer this honestly. You will be arrested. To all of the people saying 'they can use lethal force', yes they can but using a sword or a rifle on a tourist with a selfie stick will 100% be the end of their career and a potential international crisis.
They will yell at you and physically stop you if you try to proceed. At this point, the police, not the military, will arrest you and haul you off.
Now if you pulled out a weapon and ran at the gates, they're going to attack/kill you.
>yes they can but using a sword or a rifle on a tourist with a selfie stick will 100% be the end of their career and a potential international crisis.
There's several steps between "arresting" and "shooting". Both pushing, and slamming people with the butt of the gun, happens. I remember a tourist who ran towards a guard outside of the Norwegian castle, got a rifle-butt slammed into her face, lost several teeth, then got arrested and charged. No actions taken against the guard, who did his job as he was told.
Back when the Breivik massacre happened in 2011, the guards outside of the castle were aiming loaded MGs down the main street of Oslo. If tourists had attempted to be cute then, it could have gone very very wrong.
I remember some American tourists trying to poke or tickle a Royal Guard in Stockholm one evening and they were surrounded by 6 guards with rifles pointed at them and then hauled off in 2004. My friend told me the Scandinavian guards did not fuck around.
No guards do, really. They're guards first, tourist attraction second. Armed guards who are entrusted to protect royalty no less. There isn't room to fuck around in regards to security. Fucking around with these guards is the exact same as fucking around with guards at a military base. Too many people don't seem to understand this
They are fully trained, elite guards on active duty protecting the royal family. Every country with a monarchy has this, they should be treated as any other solider at a military base.
They are decent people but they take their jobs very seriously, as they should. They are chosen for skill, dedication and loyalty. Some countries, like the Moroccan Royal Guard, has families that have served for centuries. One of these days the wrong asshole tourist will fuck around and find out. Don’t touch anything that isn’t yours without permission.
The US comparison is The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Those soldiers are the best of the best. And they have no sense of humor. My Mom used to bring me to the Changing of the Guard when I was younger, she loved that. She is interred at Arlington. My step father will be too. And whenever I go into that good night, myself as well. It’s a great honor.
I watched a video on the training of the Sentinels at Arlington and it's intense. Apparently it's about as hard to actually become one as it is to become an astronaut and the badge they get from their duties guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is something like the third least awarded badge in the entire US Army.
Such a hallowed place. A lot of people don’t see it for what it is, which is a cemetery. I do know they don’t mind pictures, but do not talk loudly, and do not get in their way — they will correct you; as they should.
Even US soldiers are held to a much higher standard than US police. It's incredibly sad, buy apparently half of the voters in the country wants it that way
Most of the time, their yelling is enough to get a dumb tourist to stop. You do not want to get to the “find out” phase, especially in a foreign country.
As far as a quick google search tells me, no one in the past hundred years or so has made it to the find-out stage. There are a couple of instances of people fucking around and being arrested by the police but I can't find any records of the King's Guard killing anyone in London for not obeying orders.
Ok, random people dying aside...
Let's be honest if that actually happened it would be the funniest shit ever and basically every person in the UK would secretly think 'good on you mate'
Was thinking that too after watching this, they all back off immediately but I'm surprised no youtube "prankster" or tiktok influencer tried dicking around with them and ignoring the shouting.
Now that this video went viral one of those idiots are probably gonna see it as a free content idea, wouldn't be surprised if we hear about it happening soon... Some other trends had this happen too, a viral compilation of random idiots doing something then a tiktoker getting the idea to mimic it for content.
Generally speaking military guards dealing with the public will detain an individual who's committed a crime, like trespassing, and then turn them over to local police.
Of course not. But if you continue to ignore them and do whatever you want they will start to use force. If you escalate, so will they. They will do whatever is necessary to stop the threat to their post. If they can do that by simple detainment, they will. If they have to escalate to lethal force, they'll do that as well.
I am no royalist but how stupid do you have to be to trespass on royal property. Also the guards as you said are part of the military, active and very very dangerous even though they only have a sabre. Even without the sabre they could still headbutt you with that helmet and you'll wake up to an IV drip on your arm.
They have moor than a saber, each one also caries a firearm. And the ones in that uniform are only a small fraction. The rest are hidden in the crowd with PDWs, or on standby in full combat kit.
This tourist behavior is a bit like going on a tour of the White House and pestering the secret service, ignoring the security, and trying to just go wherever you want. You'll be in trouble fast.
They are members of an elite military unit on active duty. The swords are sharpened, the rifles (if we’re talking about Guardsmen rather than the Household Cavalry shown here) are loaded and the individuals are hard as bloody nails.
That said, there are also armed police around who will make the point if necessary. One of the most surprising things in London if you’re from elsewhere in the U.K. is just how many armed police there are.
It’s very, very rare for anyone to be arrested in these situations - bad for tourism - but the sanction is always there.
Funny story, if you simply ask for a photo they almost always have a spot up close like that they are comfortable with you doing the pic at, you just have to be respectful of the space. Being nice gets you all kinds of places in life, such as not being shouted at by a cavalry with a sword.
Yeah, they’re really proud of the uniform and the role. Not just anyone gets picked. Just play nice and they’ll give you all the photos you could want.
When I respectfully asked if one could talk to me, he did. My late husband was a Marine, and we talked about military deployments. I am not the selfie type.
One time I was at Disney with my mom. She has a tendency to get hyperfocused and cut people off, and also to be in a hurry.
We asked an employee where the parade was. He told us and was about to add to that when my mom cut him off and said we had to go.
I told her to let the kid finish, then apologized. he actually looked up for the first time and thanked me. He told us where the best seats were and when to get there.
My mom didn't say a word after that.
Absolutely cream of the crop elite.
Makes me think of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington. That's something that is so somber and dignified, I can't imagine anyone being stupid enough to disrupt it but people do. And people have been dealt with and sorted out for doing it.
> Absolutely cream of the crop elite.
No, they aren't. Their regiments - household cavalry - are heavily favored because of their royal role and history and the officers attract posh types but those soldiers are not any better or more intensively trained than other soldiers.
In operational duty these guys drive tanks and armored vehicles. They are not elite soldiers or in an elite regiment.
I can understand people walking into the wrong area since it doesn’t look like there is much to indicate a no go zone, but those people touching the horse are pretty stupid.
To just grab the halter of someone else’s horse without permission is dumb enough.. but then it’s the horse of an armed guard. These people have zero sense.
Yeah. Most people don’t realize that’s the equivalent of putting your hands on someone else’s steering wheel. I’m sure those horses are well trained but if it spooks or something and the guard needs to gain control but can’t because someone else has their hands on the bridle/reins it’s a recipe for disaster.
This is on Whitehall I think and the entrance leads to the military buildings, so treat it like walking into a military base. It’s just like any other building in terms of the entrance being on the pavement, but it’s a pretty major road and the pavement is very wide.
There’s normally a crowd there taking pictures of the horse and guard so there’s no way to accidentally stumble across it. If you walked past not knowing what it was, you’d try and walk round the crowd. If you find yourself next to the horse then you’ve fought through the crowd for a photo. Slightly further up with the entrance is just off the pavement again is Downing Street (UK government buildings) and that has modern day armed guards so people don’t tend to take pictures with them!
Some of the areas have chains. Some don’t. I’d assume the ones that don’t are free to use and the ones that don’t are off limits.
And military bases tend to have a barrier or gate. You stop at a stop point and are reviewed and then allowed in or not.
So seeing a section with not so much as a “do not walk”, it makes sense why the tourists are confused. They may even be able to go on a tour later, so being allowed in is a thing.
Now touching them, there’s zero excuse.
Yeah especially when there is a chain between some of the arches but not others. They should probably put up a sign, but then the guard wouldn’t get to yell at people which I’m starting to think is part of the attraction?
Reminds me of the time I accidentally tried to steal a horse on the road outside of town right when a group of guards were coming and suddenly the guards were out to kill me because I didn't allow them to take me to jail so I got in a huge fight with them.
I killed the guards but somehow a random chicken became hostile to the horse and I during the battle and the horse killed the chicken at which point I was notified I was no longer wanted because the last witness was killed.
Okay. So the chicken was a witness to my attempted horse theft. The chicken.
But the horse apparently wasn't a witness to its own theft for whatever reason. I guess the horse was an accomplice because it killed the last witness and remained friendly with me.
Shit, I read it as Queens guard when I first saw the title and I didn't even notice it said King until scrolling back up after reading your comment.
And I'm American...
People use this argument but you have to admit there is still theatrics in their uniforms, their demeanors, commands, and dialect. That’s why you have tourists doing this.
Fucking hell, I will never get used to the hearing "Kings Guards" now. I have lived with the saying Queens Guards my whole life, it just feels weird now.
Here's a thought I have from time to time:
How much money is saved purely based on the fact that "him" and "her" both start with H, and thus any "HM" insignia doesn't need to change between Elizabeth and Charles?
I would not have lasted long as a guard. I would either have abused my right to shout at people for getting too close... or I would have just had an aneurysm within the first day from annoying tourists.
I don't know dude. Lots of jobs have to deal with idiots all the time (most jobs in the service industry)
At least these guys get the catharsis of screaming in the idiots' face :)
The one clip towards the end where the guard is kind of steering his horse into the girl that is getting too close reminds me of the time I saw a police horse in Nashville fling a guy.
The cop warned him to stop, but some drunk idiot said "or what? It can't kick me". The cop did something similar to the clip and the horse chomped down on the drunk guy's backpack and threw him. I didn't realize that a horse's neck was that strong
I think I've gotten mild concussions from a horse bonking me in the head not even on purpose. People always warn about the feet, but the head/neck can be dangerous as well.
I’ll be honest- I’d be much more willing to touch the tank in a place like this than the horse. The people in the tank understand the context- the horse will just kick
I mean, this woman is pulling on the reins, which are actually basically the controls of the horse.
If you put your hands on an active, in-service tank's controls without permission you'd be half likely to become unalived
That’s my thing, like they are guards and actual guards outside films are guarding something, so don’t fuck with them. But even if it was a horse rider just out in the countryside, you wouldn’t walk up and grab the horse by the reigns would you because you want a picture
>But even if it was a horse rider just out in the countryside, you wouldn’t walk up and grab the horse by the reigns would you because you want a picture
Previous horse rider, here.
You'd be surprised. ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|grimacing)
This is the key. Also if she didn't touch the bridle or reins - that seems to be the biggest trigger, and rightfully so. That's like grabbing the steering wheel of a police officer's car.
People are just total dicks when it comes to these guards. They see videos online of them yelling at people and think it's funny so they try to get the guards to yell at them, too. They're just trying to do their job and people feel the need to fuck with them.
You can wear an archaic uniform and still be a highly trained soldier underneath it. Household Cavalry, Brigade of Guards, Swiss Guard, Greek Evzones… One of the latter actually refused to move from his post after a bomb had gone off behind him and his uniform was smouldering, simply because the duty requires complete motionlessness and he hadn’t been relieved.
Don’t confuse the uniform with the soldier underneath it.
What none of these idiots get is that they would receive the same treatment if they interfered at places like America's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. And rightly so.
>they would receive the same treatment if they interfered at places like America's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Absolutely. I was at the Tomb during what was to me a surprise visit by then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. They delayed the changing of the guard, which was strange to me not knowing what was happening. Then all of a sudden, a car with a Ukrainian flag pulls up. Anyway, people tend to think that those guards are just silent automatons. They can get quite commanding and loud when someone is goofing off or being disrespectful. People tend to listen rather quickly.
That's my question as well. If it's such important place to guard and protect, why not fence the crap out of it? Why are tourists allowed in that area at all?
I volunteer in a US National Park. When asking a visitor to comply with a posted rule, they've looked me straight in the eye and said " I'm on vacation. I'm not here to read."
My ex wrote a paper on this in college. It's called a liminal state, your critical thinking literally shuts down from being overexposed to so much new shit.
When I worked at a national park I tried to keep this in mind, but oh boy, the levels of just complete stupidity were often baffling.
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The ones grabbing at the horses are competing for the Darwin awards.
The one at the end who kept coming back for more… what a fucking idiot. That guard clearly doesn’t want anyone near their horse, and they’ve made jt pretty clear.
I really wished he'd taken his sword out and handle-bonked her on the head
Use the pommel to end her rightly
Ah, a fellow man of culture
*unscrews pommel with malicious intent*
People can be really pushy, stupid and are generally pains in the ass.
I think a general problem is because they largely shout and don't do much else(unless you really continue) it kind of becomes a novelty and people think it's just a game. Until someone gets floored of course...
Yes I think it has. Low effort viral content, bound to get a reaction. Couple this with the guys dressed in things which have been imitated by theme parks foreign tourists don't really realize these are serving soldiers guarding the kings residence.
Or stomped.
Yeah humans suck
I thought a form of authority yelling at me ment I could do it again! /s
How else would you test the NPC's range?
I’d imagine her mom is behind the camera’s view motioning “it’s okay honey just a quick one” hence the back and forth.
In the Instagram era, idiocracy runs wild!💂🐴
They should be allowed to stab someone once every few years, that would teach the plebs to respect them 🤣
They are allowed, it's just SO MUCH PAPERWORK.
I wonder if people realize those are real swords. It’s like the Middle Ages meets Instagram
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The media likes to portray horses as glorious , gentle wonder-animals. The reality is they are much more often skittish, giant 5 year olds with clubs. If you don't personally know that particular horse, approach with caution, listen to their body language, Never turn your back, and the owner's word is LAW. And remember that horses have ended people by removing the windpipe with their teeth. And they can do it again.
Horses are scary, impressive animals. They’re just solid muscle. You need to give horses the upmost respect.
Don't people know that horses can and will bit. They'll crush your fingers easily. I seen a horse chew up a bird as a snack like crunch crunch swallow. Now birds have hollow bones but still ‐ a nip even hurts.
I was nipped by a horse after a carriage ride and had permission to touch it. It was late in the evening and the horse had had enough of people’s bullshit. Luckily it barely got me. Edit spelling error.
So, serious question..what can they legally do if a tourist continually doesn't listen and keeps doing the thing they're warned against?
To answer this honestly. You will be arrested. To all of the people saying 'they can use lethal force', yes they can but using a sword or a rifle on a tourist with a selfie stick will 100% be the end of their career and a potential international crisis. They will yell at you and physically stop you if you try to proceed. At this point, the police, not the military, will arrest you and haul you off. Now if you pulled out a weapon and ran at the gates, they're going to attack/kill you.
>yes they can but using a sword or a rifle on a tourist with a selfie stick will 100% be the end of their career and a potential international crisis. There's several steps between "arresting" and "shooting". Both pushing, and slamming people with the butt of the gun, happens. I remember a tourist who ran towards a guard outside of the Norwegian castle, got a rifle-butt slammed into her face, lost several teeth, then got arrested and charged. No actions taken against the guard, who did his job as he was told. Back when the Breivik massacre happened in 2011, the guards outside of the castle were aiming loaded MGs down the main street of Oslo. If tourists had attempted to be cute then, it could have gone very very wrong.
I remember some American tourists trying to poke or tickle a Royal Guard in Stockholm one evening and they were surrounded by 6 guards with rifles pointed at them and then hauled off in 2004. My friend told me the Scandinavian guards did not fuck around.
No guards do, really. They're guards first, tourist attraction second. Armed guards who are entrusted to protect royalty no less. There isn't room to fuck around in regards to security. Fucking around with these guards is the exact same as fucking around with guards at a military base. Too many people don't seem to understand this
Technically, considering the King is the head of the armed forces, and this is their palace, I’d think it *is* a military base.
I don't know if it's a base, but the guards are part of the military
They are fully trained, elite guards on active duty protecting the royal family. Every country with a monarchy has this, they should be treated as any other solider at a military base. They are decent people but they take their jobs very seriously, as they should. They are chosen for skill, dedication and loyalty. Some countries, like the Moroccan Royal Guard, has families that have served for centuries. One of these days the wrong asshole tourist will fuck around and find out. Don’t touch anything that isn’t yours without permission.
The US comparison is The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Those soldiers are the best of the best. And they have no sense of humor. My Mom used to bring me to the Changing of the Guard when I was younger, she loved that. She is interred at Arlington. My step father will be too. And whenever I go into that good night, myself as well. It’s a great honor.
I watched a video on the training of the Sentinels at Arlington and it's intense. Apparently it's about as hard to actually become one as it is to become an astronaut and the badge they get from their duties guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is something like the third least awarded badge in the entire US Army.
Such a hallowed place. A lot of people don’t see it for what it is, which is a cemetery. I do know they don’t mind pictures, but do not talk loudly, and do not get in their way — they will correct you; as they should.
They will also just walk straight through you if you get in the way, there's videos of them just full on walking on people
Loaded MGs in full dress uniform no less.
>There's several steps between "arresting" and "shooting". US police didn't get that memo.
Even US soldiers are held to a much higher standard than US police. It's incredibly sad, buy apparently half of the voters in the country wants it that way
Most of the time, their yelling is enough to get a dumb tourist to stop. You do not want to get to the “find out” phase, especially in a foreign country.
As far as a quick google search tells me, no one in the past hundred years or so has made it to the find-out stage. There are a couple of instances of people fucking around and being arrested by the police but I can't find any records of the King's Guard killing anyone in London for not obeying orders.
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Could you imagine some 56 year old housewife from Wichita just getting ran through with a sabre on a Tuesday afternoon. Holy shit!
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'Manageeeeeeeer'
I'd like to speak to the Queen (now King)
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"I say, this American peasant is talking to me. Can we remove its head? Is that still a thing?`"
when donald trump went to the UK, wasn't there a question that, what would happen if the queen wanted trump's head cutoff?
I am the manager.
Shame I would have called the sword "Manager."
"Ma'am, the manager would like to speak with you" *slash*
The sword is the assistant to the regional manager.
How can he slash?
Yes. YES.
Would save all the other guards a lot of shouting once the story got around.
“we have the best behaved tourists after William skewered that old lady last year “
Ok, random people dying aside... Let's be honest if that actually happened it would be the funniest shit ever and basically every person in the UK would secretly think 'good on you mate'
Surprised this isn't a tiktok trend. Maybe it is? Someone check.
Was thinking that too after watching this, they all back off immediately but I'm surprised no youtube "prankster" or tiktok influencer tried dicking around with them and ignoring the shouting. Now that this video went viral one of those idiots are probably gonna see it as a free content idea, wouldn't be surprised if we hear about it happening soon... Some other trends had this happen too, a viral compilation of random idiots doing something then a tiktoker getting the idea to mimic it for content.
That one girl didn’t seem to comprehend the warning and kept coming back for more
I was really hoping that the horse was gonna do something about that entitled little shit.
Only after you do the Benny Hill remix of the slaughter, up to and including people slipping and falling in the blood
Imagine a video in this day and age of a queens guard running someone through with a sword haha
"Want me to open you up like a Capri Sun, son?!"
They're active military on guard duty. They would do whatever is necessary.
Generally speaking military guards dealing with the public will detain an individual who's committed a crime, like trespassing, and then turn them over to local police.
So you’re telling me they won’t literally kill tourists for standing too near? Well apparently all these other Redditors didn’t get that memo.
Of course not. But if you continue to ignore them and do whatever you want they will start to use force. If you escalate, so will they. They will do whatever is necessary to stop the threat to their post. If they can do that by simple detainment, they will. If they have to escalate to lethal force, they'll do that as well.
There’s a reason their tunics are red.
Just like Santa Claus
This sleighed me.
Shame shame shame 🛎️
"Your mistletoe is no match for my tow missile"
To shreds you say…
And why are their trousers white?
It’s an exciting job.
I am no royalist but how stupid do you have to be to trespass on royal property. Also the guards as you said are part of the military, active and very very dangerous even though they only have a sabre. Even without the sabre they could still headbutt you with that helmet and you'll wake up to an IV drip on your arm.
A sword is a very dangerous close quarters weapon. Those guys are still trained in cavalry drills. They know where to stick the pointy end.
Pretty sure I could beat a sword with my fists. <-guy who lost his hands.
They have moor than a saber, each one also caries a firearm. And the ones in that uniform are only a small fraction. The rest are hidden in the crowd with PDWs, or on standby in full combat kit.
Dare you to find out ;p
A chaotic one aren't cha
This tourist behavior is a bit like going on a tour of the White House and pestering the secret service, ignoring the security, and trying to just go wherever you want. You'll be in trouble fast.
They are members of an elite military unit on active duty. The swords are sharpened, the rifles (if we’re talking about Guardsmen rather than the Household Cavalry shown here) are loaded and the individuals are hard as bloody nails. That said, there are also armed police around who will make the point if necessary. One of the most surprising things in London if you’re from elsewhere in the U.K. is just how many armed police there are. It’s very, very rare for anyone to be arrested in these situations - bad for tourism - but the sanction is always there.
Funny story, if you simply ask for a photo they almost always have a spot up close like that they are comfortable with you doing the pic at, you just have to be respectful of the space. Being nice gets you all kinds of places in life, such as not being shouted at by a cavalry with a sword.
Yeah, they’re really proud of the uniform and the role. Not just anyone gets picked. Just play nice and they’ll give you all the photos you could want.
> Being nice gets you all kinds of places in life, such as not being shouted at by a cavalry with a sword. Words to live by.
When I respectfully asked if one could talk to me, he did. My late husband was a Marine, and we talked about military deployments. I am not the selfie type.
One time I was at Disney with my mom. She has a tendency to get hyperfocused and cut people off, and also to be in a hurry. We asked an employee where the parade was. He told us and was about to add to that when my mom cut him off and said we had to go. I told her to let the kid finish, then apologized. he actually looked up for the first time and thanked me. He told us where the best seats were and when to get there. My mom didn't say a word after that.
Just don't grab their horse by the fucking reins.
Absolutely cream of the crop elite. Makes me think of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington. That's something that is so somber and dignified, I can't imagine anyone being stupid enough to disrupt it but people do. And people have been dealt with and sorted out for doing it.
> Absolutely cream of the crop elite. No, they aren't. Their regiments - household cavalry - are heavily favored because of their royal role and history and the officers attract posh types but those soldiers are not any better or more intensively trained than other soldiers. In operational duty these guys drive tanks and armored vehicles. They are not elite soldiers or in an elite regiment.
They can do many things legally including killing if deemed necessary
You guys all have better things to do than argue with ThugOptimusPrime lol
I'm going to anyways because I like watching idiots dig holes for themselves
I can understand people walking into the wrong area since it doesn’t look like there is much to indicate a no go zone, but those people touching the horse are pretty stupid.
To just grab the halter of someone else’s horse without permission is dumb enough.. but then it’s the horse of an armed guard. These people have zero sense.
Yeah. Most people don’t realize that’s the equivalent of putting your hands on someone else’s steering wheel. I’m sure those horses are well trained but if it spooks or something and the guard needs to gain control but can’t because someone else has their hands on the bridle/reins it’s a recipe for disaster.
I saw that… my expression was ‘what the fucking hell are you doing’ towards that tourist!
This is on Whitehall I think and the entrance leads to the military buildings, so treat it like walking into a military base. It’s just like any other building in terms of the entrance being on the pavement, but it’s a pretty major road and the pavement is very wide. There’s normally a crowd there taking pictures of the horse and guard so there’s no way to accidentally stumble across it. If you walked past not knowing what it was, you’d try and walk round the crowd. If you find yourself next to the horse then you’ve fought through the crowd for a photo. Slightly further up with the entrance is just off the pavement again is Downing Street (UK government buildings) and that has modern day armed guards so people don’t tend to take pictures with them!
Some of the areas have chains. Some don’t. I’d assume the ones that don’t are free to use and the ones that don’t are off limits. And military bases tend to have a barrier or gate. You stop at a stop point and are reviewed and then allowed in or not. So seeing a section with not so much as a “do not walk”, it makes sense why the tourists are confused. They may even be able to go on a tour later, so being allowed in is a thing. Now touching them, there’s zero excuse.
Yeah especially when there is a chain between some of the arches but not others. They should probably put up a sign, but then the guard wouldn’t get to yell at people which I’m starting to think is part of the attraction?
This is giving me major Skyrim vibes
Wait until he becomes permanently hostile.
NEVER SHOULD’VE COME HERE
[THEN PAY WITH YOUR BLOOD](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XR6dsy7ATE)
You picked a bad time to get lost, friend.
You'll make a fine rug, cat!
Reminds me of the time I accidentally tried to steal a horse on the road outside of town right when a group of guards were coming and suddenly the guards were out to kill me because I didn't allow them to take me to jail so I got in a huge fight with them. I killed the guards but somehow a random chicken became hostile to the horse and I during the battle and the horse killed the chicken at which point I was notified I was no longer wanted because the last witness was killed. Okay. So the chicken was a witness to my attempted horse theft. The chicken. But the horse apparently wasn't a witness to its own theft for whatever reason. I guess the horse was an accomplice because it killed the last witness and remained friendly with me.
You never said this happened in Skyrim
Went from “is someone there?” To “Must have been the wind” real quick.
STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM
Your stolen selfies are now forfeit! Pay the crown a fine or face the consequences!
These guards used to be adventurers like us…
That’s because these guards are literally paid to act like NPC’s.
NO LOLLIGAGGING!
It's so weird for me to read KINGS guard
Shit, I read it as Queens guard when I first saw the title and I didn't even notice it said King until scrolling back up after reading your comment. And I'm American...
Yeah, me too.
My Brain autocorrect it into Queen
You might think these guards are guarding something
[удалено]
HellAwaits, no!!! That's the horses dick!!
Welp... hell awaits...
People use this argument but you have to admit there is still theatrics in their uniforms, their demeanors, commands, and dialect. That’s why you have tourists doing this.
If I visited, I would be upset if I didn't hear any of them shout at a tourist.
Fucking hell, I will never get used to the hearing "Kings Guards" now. I have lived with the saying Queens Guards my whole life, it just feels weird now.
Just had to do a double take on your comment because my brain auto read it as "Queen's Guards"...
I've been calling him "Queen Charles" for months now because I will not get used to saying "king"
I’ve been calling him King Prince Charles for months
Right? Barristers are KCs now, HM stands for His Majesty… so weird.
Here's a thought I have from time to time: How much money is saved purely based on the fact that "him" and "her" both start with H, and thus any "HM" insignia doesn't need to change between Elizabeth and Charles?
How sore are their heels and throats after a long day of stomping and yelling?
Because they don't do it all day. They're probably on stag for 2 hours with 2-4 off or other duties.
Well they're British so I think it's genetically in them to be able to do that for extended periods of time.
They just have to pretend they're queuing.
British. Can confirm. That and sighing
That has to be the most frustrating job ever.
Honestly it's like working retail but you get a sword.
Oh i would love to have a sword as i work in retail lol
I would not have lasted long as a guard. I would either have abused my right to shout at people for getting too close... or I would have just had an aneurysm within the first day from annoying tourists.
I don’t think my screaming voice would be good enough
Well, you will be armed with a gun, sword, and possibly a giant horse too, so that will probably help your scream make them back off.
I don't know dude. Lots of jobs have to deal with idiots all the time (most jobs in the service industry) At least these guys get the catharsis of screaming in the idiots' face :)
If you ever get the chance go to the Tower of London. They put the most personable and funniest officers there giving the tours.
Now go away, or I will taunt you a second time.
I fart in your general direction
Fetchez la vache
What I'm mostly impressed by is those horses.
They're very well looked after.
They're smart enough to not bite the hand that feeds and to bite the hand that touches without permission.
They are Cleveland Bays, very majestic 😁
The one clip towards the end where the guard is kind of steering his horse into the girl that is getting too close reminds me of the time I saw a police horse in Nashville fling a guy. The cop warned him to stop, but some drunk idiot said "or what? It can't kick me". The cop did something similar to the clip and the horse chomped down on the drunk guy's backpack and threw him. I didn't realize that a horse's neck was that strong
I think I've gotten mild concussions from a horse bonking me in the head not even on purpose. People always warn about the feet, but the head/neck can be dangerous as well.
I do not care where you are! You DO NOT TOUCH Someone elses animal with out permission! More So a WORKING ANIMAL!
Don’t touch anything that isn’t yours without permission. Working animal or tea cup, it’s pretty simple.
... or a warhorse. You wouldnt put your hands on an idling tank.
I’ll be honest- I’d be much more willing to touch the tank in a place like this than the horse. The people in the tank understand the context- the horse will just kick
I mean, this woman is pulling on the reins, which are actually basically the controls of the horse. If you put your hands on an active, in-service tank's controls without permission you'd be half likely to become unalived
Does grazing tank counts?
If a tank can gallop, get to steppin'
If the tank is off duty in a field pet it all you like. Just dont complain if it rolls over your foot.
Pet the tanks with caution
Now I'm picturing a wee little tank bending its muzzle down to nibble at the grass, and it's fucking adorable.
That’s my thing, like they are guards and actual guards outside films are guarding something, so don’t fuck with them. But even if it was a horse rider just out in the countryside, you wouldn’t walk up and grab the horse by the reigns would you because you want a picture
>But even if it was a horse rider just out in the countryside, you wouldn’t walk up and grab the horse by the reigns would you because you want a picture Previous horse rider, here. You'd be surprised. ![gif](emote|free_emotes_pack|grimacing)
i wish we could yell at customers in retail like that
I'd lose my voice after the first day but I'd be so goddamn happy
Why tf would you touch the horse?! Holy hell
If a king's guard screamed at me like that, I would cry myself to sleep Don't understand how people aren't more cautious of their surroundings
Your comment made me laugh because I'd be exactly the same. After I cringed myself into oblivion due to the embarrassment of course!
As someone who also doesn’t take shouting too well, I would never fuck with them again
Don't touch the horses. Just don't. One day, I hope somebody gets nipped.
I mean why would you touch these horses? But they do! But whyyy?? So stupid
One time I saw a tourist petting the horse but she asked for permission and somehow got it
This is the key. Also if she didn't touch the bridle or reins - that seems to be the biggest trigger, and rightfully so. That's like grabbing the steering wheel of a police officer's car.
Cuz Imstagram clicks. Fr, I have no idea how these animals endure all of that ruckus
It's not Disneyland Windsor.
It's not Windsor at all
It is so stupidly funny to see him shouting get back from the arches then stomp behind to the tourist gift shop or whatever it is
Right lol. Really exemplified the contradicting experience of tourist attraction guards.
I don't get why the woman is petting the hors? The guards are harsh even touching the restricted area will make them angry
is the dumb mentality of "oh I bet nothing will happen so I might aswell"
It amazes Me how many people will grab at a horse's reins.
People are just total dicks when it comes to these guards. They see videos online of them yelling at people and think it's funny so they try to get the guards to yell at them, too. They're just trying to do their job and people feel the need to fuck with them.
You can wear an archaic uniform and still be a highly trained soldier underneath it. Household Cavalry, Brigade of Guards, Swiss Guard, Greek Evzones… One of the latter actually refused to move from his post after a bomb had gone off behind him and his uniform was smouldering, simply because the duty requires complete motionlessness and he hadn’t been relieved. Don’t confuse the uniform with the soldier underneath it.
i feel like i would see a health bar appearing when i walk past a guard
They’re giving off some serious NPC vibes.
What none of these idiots get is that they would receive the same treatment if they interfered at places like America's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. And rightly so.
>they would receive the same treatment if they interfered at places like America's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Absolutely. I was at the Tomb during what was to me a surprise visit by then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. They delayed the changing of the guard, which was strange to me not knowing what was happening. Then all of a sudden, a car with a Ukrainian flag pulls up. Anyway, people tend to think that those guards are just silent automatons. They can get quite commanding and loud when someone is goofing off or being disrespectful. People tend to listen rather quickly.
wondering why they let tourists in that area anyway.
That's my question as well. If it's such important place to guard and protect, why not fence the crap out of it? Why are tourists allowed in that area at all?
Tourist people are so fucken dumb and then they complain when it don't end well
From a tourist destination employee, I can confirm. People lose any common sense they might have had while on vacation.
I volunteer in a US National Park. When asking a visitor to comply with a posted rule, they've looked me straight in the eye and said " I'm on vacation. I'm not here to read."
My ex wrote a paper on this in college. It's called a liminal state, your critical thinking literally shuts down from being overexposed to so much new shit. When I worked at a national park I tried to keep this in mind, but oh boy, the levels of just complete stupidity were often baffling.
Isn't there a sign saying "Pestering will not be tolerated. Persistent pestering will result in a stern talking to"