Will and Kate Song by Canadian, My husband the Coldstream Guard and Charles & Diana Wedding china

The BBC website posted a link to a YouTube video of a song a Canadian group wrote...and illustrated...for Will and Kate which is quite cute!
You can click on the link here to go hear it. I especially liked the fun drawings done to accompany the song. Cute! And nice song!
BBC link to Will & Kate song


A question I get asked about my DH is...is it true he guarded the Queen at Buckingham Palace, and the answer is...yes! My husband was a member of the Coldstream Guards, a crack infantry regiment that is part of the Brigade Of Guards. The Coldstream guards are affectionately known in the brigade as the Chilly Rivers.

This is not my DH. When he emigrated to the US he left his photos behind and his sister now has them.  He was from a family of guardsmen and until recently you had to have family connections to join the guards...as well as be over 6 feet tall. His brother was a guardsman as well as an uncle who was a Company Sergeant Major. The idea of being over 6 feet as well as the bearskin hat...which is actually bearskin and weigh 7-8 pounds...was to make the guards look even taller and more intimidating than they already were.


The guards used to find the guard at Buckingham Palace outside the gates that are now closed in front of the Palace. There are 2 guard houses inside which used to be outside the gates. The year my DH was guarding the palace they were hauled inside the gates because of an incident involving an American tourist and a Coldstream Guard...not my DH but a good friend of his. 


The Guardsmen were famous for remaining impassive no matter what, and were purposely trained for this. But, as they were standing outside the gates easily accessed by tourist this was not always easy. Some people made it a quest to get a reaction from a guardsman. One particular American woman was being beyond the norm offensive trying to provoke a reaction. I won't tell you what she did...I would be too embarrassed. But...the guard reacted, was reported and the guards were permanently moved inside the gates.


To explain, if you have ever watched the changing of the guards, you will notice that the 2 guardsmen seem to miraculously be able to know what the other will do and when. BUT...there are tricks involved. Under the pavement where the guards stand is a hollow space that clearly relays sound to the other guard position. Then men are in steel toed boots. When they slam feet or rifle butts it resounds to the other guard to begin a particular maneuver...indicated by a code of heels, toes, slams. Then as they march toward each other, finger signals are given to communicate. SO...on that fateful day, the guardsman telegraphed a quick 2 paces forward and slammed into the American tourist's shins with his steel toed boots.  Sounds terrible, but the provocation was extreme, and when the case was heard it was dismissed with no penalty for the guardsman but an apology, and the guards were moved in.

We do have his patches. There is a Guards Museum in London that we visited about 10 years ago which brought tears to my husband's eyes. It was fabulous! He still wears his guards tie at times and has a Coldstream Guards key fob he treasures.

This is the guards at their inside guards box during a change of the guards.

A current image used as a recruitment poster. There was a reality show 2 years ago of 8 weeks following 6 new recruits through a year in the Guards that was fabulous.


So...you can see why we, at Time Was Antiques are strong supporters of England and English antiques, collectibles and British Royal Memorabilia!


We just found a box in the warehouse of items from the Royal Wedding of Prince Charles and Diana in 1981 that have been stored since 2002 when we closed our actual antique shop to go exclusively online. I had wondewred where they had gone! We have bone chinamugs and plates from Chinacraft, a division of Caverswall, England on e of the foremost manufactureres of royal commemoratives.

The interesting thing about these designs is they include Highgrove, the organic estate of Prince Charles. They were a numbered edition of 5,000 and each one of the mugs and plates are separately numbered. Pretty cool!!!  To see more photos and info of the mugs and plates at Time Was Antiques, just click on the photos.


Have a great day, a cup of tea with a friend and cheers!