Changing the Guard, as the Household Division describes it

What the ceremony is

Changing the Guard is a handover. The soldiers on duty at the King's residence, the Old Guard, form up and are relieved by the New Guard, which arrives with a band; the Household Division, which carries out the ceremony, calls it "a formal handover of responsibilities".[1] At Buckingham Palace the New Guard marches in from Wellington Barracks, and the Captain of the Old Guard hands over the key to the Palace, which the Division describes as the symbolic transfer of responsibility for the Palace's security.[4]

XTOUR's reading is that this is a working guard duty with ceremony around it, not a show staged for visitors, and that this explains most of what follows: why it moves between palaces, why the unit and band change from day to day, and why it can be cancelled on the morning itself.

Where and when

The Household Division runs two guard changes on alternating days. According to its overview page, the King's Guard changes at Buckingham Palace on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and the Windsor Castle Guard on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.[1] Windsor Castle is in Windsor, not London; it is a separate trip from the London ceremony.

The page gives the time as 11am, and its "How to Watch" section says the change of the King's Guard takes place in front of Buckingham Palace at 10:45 and lasts about 45 minutes, with soldiers gathering at St James's Palace and Wellington Barracks from 10:00.[1] The detailed account puts the New Guard's entry into the Palace forecourt at about 11:00.[4]

The Division sends readers to its monthly schedule for "accurate dates", and the schedule is worth reading closely.[1] The October 2026 schedule, read on 11 October, lists each day's unit, type of parade, time and band for both palaces separately. It did not list a Windsor guard change on Tuesday 13 or Tuesday 20 October, although Tuesday is one of Windsor's days.[2] The weekday pattern is the rule; the schedule is what actually happens.

Why it can be cancelled on the day

The Household Division says plainly that "ceremonial activity can sometimes be altered or cancelled at very short notice, especially in wet weather and can be decided as late as 1045 on the day".[1] Its Windsor page adds that the Windsor change takes place "weather permitting".[7] XTOUR has no way to know on a given morning whether the ceremony will go ahead, and a monthly schedule cannot show a decision taken that morning.

How it unfolds at Buckingham Palace

The Division's own step-by-step account runs like this.[4]

1. At 10:30 a detachment of the Old Guard forms up in Friary Court at St James's Palace, is inspected, and marches down The Mall to Buckingham Palace behind a band or corps of drums. 2. The Buckingham Palace detachment of the Old Guard forms up in the forecourt; the St James's detachment joins it on the south side. 3. At Wellington Barracks on Birdcage Walk the New Guard and band form up, are inspected, and march to the Palace, entering the forecourt through the North Centre Gate at about 11:00. 4. The guards present arms, the key is handed over, new sentries are posted, and the band plays a programme of music in the forecourt. 5. At about 11:35 the guards re-form; the Old Guard marches out to Wellington Barracks, and the part of the New Guard responsible for St James's Palace marches back down The Mall.

The music is not fixed. The Division says a full military band, usually from one of the Guards regiments, plays anything from traditional marches to show tunes and familiar pop songs, and that the Scots and Irish Guards have pipers.[6] When the King is in residence, the Royal Standard flies over the Palace and the number of sentries increases.[3]

Sundays and the days between

On days without a guard change, the Guard is still inspected, by the Captain, and the overview page puts this at 15:00 at Buckingham Palace, St James's Palace and Windsor Castle. On Sundays at Buckingham Palace, the Colour (the regimental flag) is added to the inspection in a ceremony called the Sunday Parade, held at 10:00 instead.[1] The October 2026 schedule listed Buckingham Palace inspections at 15:00 but Windsor inspections at 11:00, and Sunday Parades on 18 and 25 October only.[2] The Windsor page says there is no Changing the Guard at Windsor on Sundays.[7]

Windsor Castle

At Windsor the ceremony, also called Guard Mounting, begins with the Windsor Castle Guard forming up outside the Guard Room; the new guard arrives behind a band, corps of drums or pipe band, and after the 45-minute handover the old guard returns to Victoria Barracks in Windsor town. The Household Division says the ceremony takes place inside the Castle precincts, "so visitors must purchase a Castle ticket to watch the ceremony".[7]

For information about the Castle, the Household Division points to the Royal Collection's website.[7] XTOUR could not read that site (rct.uk) on 11 October 2026, so it has not read the Castle's own ticket terms and says nothing about them.

Who stands guard

The Buckingham Palace guard, according to the overview page, is "typically provided by one of the five Foot Guards Regiments of the Household Division", distinguished by the buttons on their tunics and the plumes in their bearskins.[1] The Windsor page lists those five, the Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards, with two regiments of Household Cavalry, and adds that "for operational and other reasons, this privilege is periodically extended to other regiments of the British Army".[7] The October 2026 schedule shows that in practice: 26 Engineer Regiment appears on many days at both palaces alongside Foot Guards companies.[2] A visitor expecting bearskins on every date may see a different unit.

The other ceremony: the King's Life Guard at Horse Guards

Horse Guards, on Whitehall, has its own guard change, and it is a different ceremony run by different soldiers. The King's Life Guard is mounted by the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, which rides from Hyde Park Barracks; according to the Household Division, the guard changes on Horse Guards Parade at 11:00 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, with a duty officer's inspection at 11:00 on Saturdays and Sundays. Two mounted sentries guard the Whitehall entrance through the day, and the guard is inspected dismounted at 16:00 daily.[8]

Where the Household Division's own pages disagree

The Division's pages, read on 11 October 2026, give different answers to several simple questions.

• What time? The header says 11am, the "How to Watch" text says the ceremony takes place at 10:45, and the detailed account has the New Guard entering the forecourt at about 11:00.[1] The troop-movements page has the Old Guard leaving St James's Palace at 10:43, the same minute at which the detailed account has it already entering the Buckingham Palace forecourt.[5]
• Which Henry? The overview says the daily inspection reaches back to the formation of permanent Royal Guards by Henry VIII.[1] The origins page says it was Henry VII who made the Royal Body Guard permanent.[3]
• How old are the Guards? The origins page says the first Guards were raised in 1656 to protect the exiled Charles II.[3] The Windsor page says the Guards have carried out the guard duty since 1660.[7] The recruiting page says the Guards have fought for the country since 1642.[9] These may count different things, raising, guard duty and fighting, but the pages do not say so.

XTOUR reports each as the Household Division states it and does not choose between them.

A note on safety

The Household Division's own page warns that, as in all crowded places, pickpockets have been known to operate around the ceremony, and asks spectators to look after their possessions and report suspicious behaviour to a police officer.[1] XTOUR publishes no safety or crowd information of its own.

Where this fits

Buckingham Palace is in London. XTOUR does not publish travel times between the sites named here or to Windsor. XTOUR could not read the official royal website's Changing the Guard page on 11 October 2026, so this article rests on the Household Division's pages alone.