And also why do they still exist? Can’t a regular soldier do the same thing?
In: Other
British ones?
They are regular soldiers. When they’re not guarding, they’re soldiering. It’s a prestigious role which is why they want to do it.
Standing in a place perfectly still during hours just so the elite of your country can show their power is a great honor amongst some people.
Speaking for Norway; being in the Royal Guard is considered not only a great honor, it is very prestigious. Acceptance to the Royal Guards is very competitive, and its members are volunteers. They are trained as regular infantry soldiers, with added training in closed order drill. As for why they still exist, there are three main reasons. First of all, you need someone to guard the royal palace, it might as well be a dedicated unit. Second, the armed forces is a very conservative and tradition-bound organization. Third, the Royal Guards, in their uniforms and closed order drill, add a lot of pomp, circumstance, and panache to an occasion.
Prestige. The “show” positions are the most prestigious in the military and it is an honor to be selected.
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British ones ARE regular soldiers, and theyre on duty. For reals for reals. Its for show yes, but officially they ARE on duty and have proper powers and authority. They still exist because, again officially speaking, the Commander of the military needs guarding because *he is the Commander of the military*.
Its actually a VERY saught after position. Soldiers want it and are proud to do it. As for enduring it, iirc they use micro-movements in their legs to keep going for a long time.
It’s just practice – I wasn’t in the Guards but we still had drill where we were expected to stand still for long periods. It’s not to bad UNLESS there are flies and bugs in which case it’s torture when they crawling over your face.
It’s mostly a PR / recruiting / traditions function. Ceremonial guards rarely carry loaded weapons and standing perfectly still makes you useless for force protection. Some units will rotate staff around between ceremonial and actual guarding but when they are in their parade dress standing still that’s 99% pr.
Furthermore, military are not police. They generally have no interest in using force against their own population.
A Canadian sentry at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was shot and killed a few years ago. Now *they* are protected by an armed and uniformed police officer.
They don’t actually have to stand still for hours. If you go to places like the UK and the Tomb of the Unknowns in the US, which is our closest American equivalent, you will notice that they march back and forth at regular intervals. This is for ceremonial reasons but also has the practical purpose of allowing the guards to stretch their legs. They also get rotated in shifts, most likely every hour or two hours depending on the country, as they would for a regular guard duty in any other part of the military.
Why do they still exist? Probably because tradition is very deeply ingrained in all militaries and in the past, the units that protected monarchs were expected to be of a higher standard than the rest of their army. In modern times, this isn’t necessarily true because their role is ceremonial and more for the benefit of the public and the government than the military. But this is where tradition sort of blends a bit with modern thinking. In modern times if you want to mark a unit as holding itself to a higher standard, you make it all volunteers.
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