One of the most interesting sights loved by tourists is the guards in front of numerous royal palaces. Most of them are in front of Buckingham Palace, where you can watch the changing of the guard every day. But they are there quite far from the audience. Much closer to tourists are the guards at St James's Palace and in the Tower.
Today, the guards mainly perform a ceremonial function and protect the royal residences. At the same time, they have repeatedly participated in military conflicts and were part of the peacekeeping contingents in Asia and Africa.
The Royal Guard is subordinate to the Ministry of Defense and consists of five infantry and two cavalry regiments. Each regiment has its own orchestra. By the way, the melodies performed by the orchestra can be the most unexpected - from the traditional anthem to popular music from modern films.
The famous caps of the guardsmen are made from the fur of the North American grizzly bear. The officers' hats are taller and more shiny. The fact is that they are made from the fur of a male, and the hats of privates and non-commissioned officers - from the fur of a female grizzly (it does not look so impressive).
But the caps of ordinary guardsmen, which, so to speak, are inherited, from demobilized soldiers to young conscripts, serve for almost a hundred years, so members of the animal welfare society can be calm about the number of bears. Nevertheless, at the request of conservationists, the British Department of Defense has been experimenting for years, trying to "introduce" hats made of synthetic fur. But these experiments have not yet been crowned with success. Some fake fur hangs in untidy rags after the rain, while the other, on the contrary, stands on end, so that the guardsmen look like punks in such hats.
