Horse Guards Parade London Private Guided Tours

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The clock tower and buildings with the London Eye in the background and caption 'Beach volleyball & birthdays!'.

Sitting between the famous Downing Street (home to our Prime Minister) and The Mall (the ceremonial road that leads to Buckingham Palace), Horse Guards Parade is a key place in central London. This is where, every morning at 11 am sharp (10am on Sundays), the Queen's Life Guard change takes place.

Every day, a squadron of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment's rides down from their barracks in Knightsbridge to take over guard duties for the next day. The two most senior Regiments of the British Army take it in turns: one day, the Life Guard in their stunning red tunics and white plume; and the next, the Blue and Royals in their blue tunics and red plume.

It is also where, every year on the second Saturday of June, the Queen's official birthday celebrations take place — a ceremony known as Trooping the Colour. But Horse Guards Parade is also associated with many other things. In the 2012 Olympics, it hosted the beach volleyball events!

Heritage

There is a direct connection between Horse Guards Parade and Black Heritage. John Blanke is the only black Tudor that there is identifiable evidence of. He was a royal trumpeter and the centre of royal events on the parade ground, and played at Henry VII’s funeral and Henry VIII’s coronation and was depicted on the Westminster Tournament Roll of 1511. He may have come to Britain from the Iberian Peninsula with Catherine of Aragon. Blanke features heavily in many Black History tours of London.

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