Website: http://www.theguardsmuseum.comToday I visited the museum that inspired this blog. The museum is located next to St. James's Park and, as I arrived, I was expecting a museum about soldiers and warfare. I was partly right.
I bought my cheap £2 student ticket from a softly-spoken grey-haired gentleman who waved me into the museum. I was immediately confronted by huge displays of medals and uniforms:
I tried to read the information cards to understand what I was looking at but they assumed a level of background knowledge that I didn't have (e.g. the technical meaning of battalions, colours, decorations etc). As I made my way around the museum I found longer information signs which gave the necessary background.It turns out that the museum is all about a very particular type of soldier: the Royal Foot Guards. More specifically the five different types of Guards: Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards. I finally understood that these were the same guards as in the "changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace". I think of these as mainly a tourist attraction but the Guard's regiments are proper soldiers too and there are some currently in action in Afghanistan.
The Scots and Coldstream guards were founded in the English civil war (the Scots guards were first assembled in Scotland and then marched for over a month south to London!). These soldiers used pikes to spear enemy cavalry charges. The pikes were long wooden sticks with a metal point on the end which was used to pierce horses and their riders. Rather gruesome was the mention of a "blood rag" which was tied around the stick to "stop blood running down the shaft and making it slippy". Ugh! (The blood rag was later "formalised" to a tassel).
Over the centuries other regiments were added (Grenadier, Irish, Welsh - in that order I think) by various kings and queens. The museum charted the history of the regiments and the different battles they've fought in. The timeline reminded me of the bloody history of Europe - with countries declaring war on each ceaselessly. There were lots of paintings of battles and uniforms through the ages:
even including the battles fought in Egypt: 
Eventually I made it through the extensive rooms to the 20th century where The Great War, World War II and beyond were discussed:
I was interested to see their display about the current regiments in action in Afghanistan:
This formed an striking contrast to the ceremonial aspects of the uniforms, the "colours", the drumming parades etc. After a quick look around at the photos of the stiff-upper-lipped military leaders, I left.
Summary: A bit too specific for a day out unless you know someone who was in the Guards.
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