Do People Really Need to Buy a Ticket to Watch the Changing of Guard at Buckingham Palace ?

Monday, Day 5 – After enjoying our buffet breakfast at our in London, we stored our luggage at the hotel storage room and checked out of our hotel where we called home for the first part of our UK visit. Having stayed in London for a few days, we were able to take the underground train and went to different parts of London. We prebooked a tour online for the Changing of the Guard at the Buckingham Palace - 14 British lbs each for the ticket. I was a little concerned when we read our confirmation email from the tour company. It said on our electronic confirmation that the receipt we received was not a admission ticket but a voucher. We would meet with our tour guide at the Duke of York Column at the St. James Park where we would be issued a ticket. We were given the feeling that we might be watching the changing of guard inside a place where you would need a ticket for entry.

Locating the DUKE OF York Column was not easy even though we asked a number of Londoners after leaving the subway station. It was a frustrating experience. Everyone knew where the Buckingham Palace was but few had heard of the Duke of York Column. Why the tour group didn’t choose to meet closer to the palace was a puzzle to us. Finally we located the meeting place and met up with our tour guide and the group.

Instead of being a little closer to the palace and be able to watch the changing of guard from a reasonable distance, we were a long way away from the palace! Our guide told us that to be close enough to watch the ceremony, people would have needed to be waiting in line for two hours in front of the Palace. Well, we could have come on our own earlier and watch the ceremony much closer than from where we were. Therefore, the 14 lb spent on a ticket to watch the guard changing ceremony was totally not worthy it. The only thing we got from this tour was a few stories about Charles and the current queen’s residence – Clarence House.

Since we were so far away from the Palace that we could hardly see or hear much of what was going on. We could only see the old guard leaving the palace and we followed them to their barrack, the Wellington Barrack where they were dismissed. There was not much else to see at all from that tour.

After the tour, we walked around the parliament area and learned about The Red Lion Pub, a place popular among British politicians. Some of its famous patrons included Charles Dickens and Winston Churchill. How could we pass by the opportunity of eating something at the same place where these famous people frequented before? We did go in, order a beer, some food and lingered a short while. This action almost cost us missing our coach bus to Bath. We arrived at the Victoria Coach station at the nick of time, just before our coach was pulling out of the station. I thanked God for listening to our prayers and not missing our bus to Bath and He listened! Praise God! RT, Near Buckingham Palace London, UK 022025