The Changing of the Guard in London | Your Complete Guide (2026)

If you love the pomp and ceremony that surrounds the British monarchy, the Changing of the Guard is free to watch and there is nothing to book. 

Everyone knows about the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Far fewer people realise the ceremony also takes place at St James’s Palace and Wellington Barracks, and that you can follow it on foot from start to finish.

The guards switch over at each location, not only at Buckingham Palace. No site on the route is ever left without its protective patrol, which is why the whole thing runs to the minute. 

This guide gives you the 2026 schedule and the step-by-step route we follow, so you can see it all. If you would rather pick one spot and stay put, we include notes on which to choose, how much walking each involves, and which tours are worth booking. 

The short version for 2026: the King’s Guard changes at Buckingham Palace on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 11 am. It is no longer a daily event in June and July, and Sunday now brings a different ceremony instead of a guard change.

💂‍♀️⭐️💂‍♀️Top pick – Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace Tour with Walks. On this small group tour, you will experience 2 separate ceremonies (including one with horses) from 4 different vantage points. Click to find out more

What is the Changing of the Guard?

Guard Mounting, to give it its proper name, is the handover of responsibility from one group of soldiers to the next. 

The King’s Guard, known as the Queen’s Guard until late 2022, is responsible for the security of both Buckingham Palace and St James’s Palace. Those two locations are key. The third is Wellington Barracks. 

Wellington Barracks sits on Birdcage Walk, a few minutes from Buckingham Palace, and is where the Household Division is based. These five regiments keep the royal palaces secure, so the soldiers you are watching are on actual duty.  

The ceremony takes place when an entire detachment takes over from the previous one. Within each guard, individual sentries swap over every two hours. 

The two palaces are about a five-minute walk from one another, with St James’s Park lying between them. The three key locations form a triangle, and the imaginary lines between the points cross the park. 

The whole thing runs from around 10.30 am to 11.45 am. Follow the step-by-step route below to see it all.

The King’s Guard

The King’s Guard is drawn from five regiments of Foot Guards: the Grenadier Guards, the Coldstream Guards, the Scots Guards, the Irish Guards and the Welsh Guards. Under a female monarch, they are known as the Queen’s Guard. 

The Coldstream Guards are the oldest, dating back to 1650. The Grenadier Guards were formed six years later and are the most senior of the five. 

All five form part of the Household Division and are based at Wellington Barracks when on public duties.  

The plume on the bearskin is the quickest way to tell the regiments apart, and the collar badge confirms it:

• Grenadier Guards: White plume on the left, grenade badge
• Coldstream Guards: Red plume on the right, ⭐️ star badge
• Scots Guards: No plume, thistle badge
• Irish Guards: Blue plume on the right, ☘️ shamrock badge
• Welsh Guards: Green and white plume on the left, leek badge

The tunic buttons are another tell, and easier to read at a distance: singly for the Grenadiers, in pairs for the Coldstream, in threes for the Scots, fours for the Irish, and fives for the Welsh Guards. The order follows the regiments’ seniority.

Why watch the Changing of the Guard?

The military

The first draw is the guards themselves in full ceremonial dress, in the scarlet tunics and black bearskins everyone pictures. From roughly late autumn to early spring they wear grey greatcoats instead, which catches out visitors who have only ever seen the summer photographs. 

The music

A band or corps of drums from the Household Division accompanies the ceremony, and the repertoire is broader than most people expect. Alongside the marches and regimental slow marches, you will often hear arrangements of film themes and chart songs.

Occasionally there is no music at all. Bands get pulled away for other state and ceremonial duties, and the ceremony goes ahead without them. 

The places

Follow the route, and you cover a good deal of ceremonial London in an hour. Two royal palaces to begin with, Buckingham and St James’s, plus Wellington Barracks, where the regiments are based.

You also pass St James’s Park, The Mall, Clarence House and the Victoria Memorial. Seeing them in sequence shows how close together this corner of London is. Several nearby paid attractions are covered by a London Pass, which makes this a sensible morning to pair with one. 

Changing of the Guard times and dates in 2026

The ceremony runs on fewer days than it used to, and the pattern changed again in 2025. Most online guides still use the old version.

Changing of the Guard dates and times (2026)

• Monday, Wednesday and Friday, 11 am: the full Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. The ceremony on the forecourt lasts around 45 minutes, and the wider ceremony across the three sites runs from about 10.30 am to 11.45 am
• Sunday, 10 am: the Sunday Parade, which is not a guard change. The Colour of the King’s Guard is trooped in front of the Guard at Buckingham Palace and then marched back to St James’s Palace, a tradition called Lodging the Colour
• Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, 3 pm: the Captain’s Inspection on the forecourt at Buckingham Palace, when the Captain of the Guard checks the soldiers are fit for duty, often with music. Far smaller than the main ceremony, and far quieter

If you have read older guides, two things have changed. The Changing of the Guard is no longer a daily event in June and July, so a summer trip does not guarantee you a ceremony on any given morning, and Sunday is no longer a guard change day at 11 am. 

The Sunday Parade and the Captain’s Inspection were introduced as a trial in 2025 to give visitors something to see on the days between guard changes. Start times for the Sunday Parade have been listed at both 10 am and 11 am while the trial has bedded in, so check the date you are visiting rather than assuming.

Dates are confirmed roughly a month ahead and are always subject to change. You can check the schedule for the month you are travelling on the Household Division website, which is the only source we rely on.

The Household Cavalry change separately at Horse Guards on Whitehall, daily at 11 am and at 10 am on Sundays. That makes Horse Guards the obvious fallback on the days the palace ceremony is not running.

Cancellations due to heavy rain

Heavy rain can cancel the ceremony. It takes more than a shower, but a sustained downpour will cancel it. 

If it is called off, it is not rescheduled to later in the day. You would need to wait for the next date on the calendar, which is why we suggest building it into the first half of a London trip rather than the last morning. 

The decision is often made at the last moment, so you may only find out minutes before the scheduled start. Ceremonies can also be cancelled or moved for state visits and other ceremonial duties.

The Changing of the Guard route step by step

The ceremony at Buckingham Palace starts at 11 am, but it all begins half an hour earlier at St James’s Palace. Because the guards move between the three locations on foot, you can keep up with them and see the whole sequence rather than one 45 minute slice of it.

Start at St James’s Palace. The nearest tube is Green Park on the Victoria, Jubilee and Piccadilly lines, about a seven minute walk. Charing Cross, on the Bakerloo and Northern lines and served by mainline trains, is a little further. 

The times below are approximate, though the military keeps to them. Check the accessibility notes further down before you commit to the full route, because it adds up to nearly two miles of walking at the band’s pace. 

Step 1: Get ready

10:20 am: Wait across the street from Friary Court at St James’s Palace, on Marlborough Road

Step 2: Get set

10:30 am: The Old Guard detachment forms up in Friary Court and is inspected by the Captain of the King’s Guard

Step 3: Go!

10:35 am: When the band or corps of drums strikes up, walk south towards The Mall, cross the road and wait in front of the park gates

Step 4: Walk along The Mall

10:38 am: As the band and Old Guard move off, turn the corner and walk along The Mall towards Buckingham Palace. Stay on the pavement, the sidewalk or path, rather than the road the guards are using. They enter the palace forecourt at around 10:43 am

Step 5: Cut through St James’s Park 

• As the guards approach the memorial, turn left to cut through St James’s Park. Take the left just before the stoplight at the circular drive. Use the smaller path that slopes down, not the large circular path that runs by the circular drive
• Stay right on the path through St James’s Park, keeping the lake on your left as you head towards Wellington Barracks on Birdcage Walk
• Do not cross Birdcage Walk. Stay over the street from the Barracks, but move slightly to the right to where Spur Road curves off Birdcage Walk, which is just up from the stop light 
• Make sure you have a good view of the Barracks gate on the far right as you look at the Barracks, because that is where the band and New Guard come out. Aim to be in place by about 10:50 am

Step 6: Head towards Buckingham Palace

10:57 am: The band plays at the Barracks and marches out in front of the New Guard, heading for Buckingham Palace

• Walk alongside the band and New Guard on the pavement to their right, towards the Queen Victoria Memorial. As the band goes left, veer around the Memorial to the right, then up a few steps to the outer ring or path leading back to The Mall
• Cross The Mall on the north side and walk the short distance to Clarence House, which is on the first street to the left. Wait near the corner of The Mall and the entrance to Clarence House

Step 7: See the changing ceremony

11:00 am: The New Guard comes in through the North Centre Gate and halts facing the Old Guard on the forecourt, inside the railings. Music plays while the Captain of the Old Guard hands the key to the palace to his replacement, marking the moment responsibility formally changes hands. 

Step 8: Go to Clarence House

11:10 am: The St James’s Palace detachment of the New Guard leaves Buckingham Palace and marches off towards Clarence House and St James’s Palace

• Go up to the chain barrier to watch the changeover at the Clarence House guard post. This is the quietest part of the whole morning and often the closest you will get to the guards

Step 9: Watch the Old Guard

11:25 am: The relieved sentries leave St James’s Palace and head back towards Buckingham Palace

• If you wait here, you can sometimes catch the Household Cavalry coming up The Mall. Leave enough time to be back at Wellington Barracks by 11:40 am 
• Make your way back to Wellington Barracks the way you came, or reverse the route you took with the New Guard in step 6
• This time, cross the street at Birdcage Walk and stand on the same side as the Barracks, near where Spur Road leads up to the Victoria Memorial. Aim for a clear view of the Memorial in the distance

Step 10: Back to Wellington Barracks

11:40 am: The Old Guard leaves Buckingham Palace and returns to Wellington Barracks behind the band

• You should have a straight-on view of the Old Guard marching back into Wellington Barracks
• Once they are inside the gates, you can watch the band stand down, followed by a sword salute and the Old Guard unloading their weapons. Walk towards the centre of the Barracks to see this part properly

Keep an eye out throughout for the Household Cavalry, who change separately at Horse Guards and frequently cross paths with the Foot Guards along The Mall.

Accessibility and how much walking is involved

The full route covers close to two miles, and you do it at the pace of a marching band, with several road crossings and plenty of standing in between. It is flat and entirely on paved paths and pavements, and the only steps are the ones up onto the Victoria Memorial, which you can go around instead. 

If that is more than you want to take on, pick one location and stay there rather than half following the route and arriving everywhere a minute too late.

• The best single spot if standing is difficult: the railings at Wellington Barracks on Birdcage Walk. It is flat, the crowds are thinner than at the palace, and you see the New Guard form up and the band warm up at close range
• The hardest spot: the Buckingham Palace gates, where people stand several deep for an hour with nowhere to sit, and it takes a while to get out again once the crowd breaks up
• Benches: there are benches along The Mall and throughout St James’s Park, though the ones with a view of the route fill early

Green Park is the most useful tube station for step-free travel. It has lifts from street to platform on all three of its lines, the Victoria, Jubilee and Piccadilly, installed ahead of the 2012 Olympics. St James’s Park and Charing Cross stations are not step-free throughout, so check the Transport for London step-free map before you plan your route.

St James’s Park has public toilets, which the Royal Parks charge 20p to use, and they accept contactless. There are none at the palace railings, so go before you take up your spot. Euan’s Guide carries disabled access reviews of St James’s Park and other venues along the route, written by people who have been.

The Changing of the Guard locations

If you would rather not follow the whole route, here is what you get from each spot. Wherever you choose, it is free and there is nothing to book. 

Buckingham Palace gates

Most people head here, where the handover itself happens. You get a good view of the New Guard coming in, but you’ll see very little of the procession leading up to it, and you will want to be in place by about 10.30 am to get near the railings. 

Bear in mind you may have to wait for the crowds to thin before you can get away afterwards. 

Victoria Memorial

Rather than crowding in front of the gates, stand on the steps of the Queen Victoria Memorial. The elevation gives you a view over the palace and the surrounding area, and it is the best vantage point for photographs of the guards arriving along The Mall. 

You will see part of the parade and the ceremony in front of the palace, though your view can be blocked when it is busy. There are steps up, so it is not an option for everyone, and it is not the quickest place to leave from at the end. 

The Mall

You see a surprising amount from The Mall, the processional road that leads to Buckingham Palace. The stretch by Marlborough House Gardens and Marlborough Road is the best part, and the best place on the route for photographs. 

This is the stretch where the guards pass closest to the crowd, and a good place to catch the mounted Household Cavalry. You can also leave whenever you like, which matters if you have somewhere to be afterwards. 

Wellington Barracks

This is our pick if you are only going to stand in one place. You are further from the palace, but you watch the New Guard form up and the band warm up from about 10.15 am, and the crowds are nothing like those at the gates. 

It is flat, and you can walk away along Birdcage Walk the moment you have had enough. 

St James’s Palace

For the very start of the ceremony, get as close to Friary Court as you can. This is the part of St James’s Palace on Marlborough Road, where the Old Guard is inspected and the band forms up before setting off.

You will not see much else unless you follow the route, but the inspection is a lovely, low-key thing to watch and hardly anyone is there for it. 

Changing of the Guard tours

A guided tour takes the timings off your hands and puts a local expert beside you to explain what you are looking at. 

These are the three we recommend. We have taken tours with Walks ourselves and you can read our full review of their London in a Day tour, which includes the Changing of the Guard, and our guide to Walks and Devour small group tours in London. 

Changing of the Guard and Buckingham Palace walking tour

• Duration: 90 minutes
• Locations: Buckingham Palace, St James’s Palace, The Mall, St James’s Park, Horse Guards Parade, Clarence House

This covers much the same ground as the self-guided route above, with a guide handling the timings and explaining what is happening at each stage. 

London in a day with the Changing of the Guard walking tour (+ boat)

• Duration: 8 hours
• Locations: Changing of the Guard, Westminster Abbey, Thames boat trip, Tower of London including the Crown Jewels, Tower Bridge

Alongside the key locations listed above you also pass Trafalgar Square, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, The Shard, the London Eye, St Paul’s Cathedral and The Gherkin. It is a long day and it covers a lot of ground on foot, so it suits people who are comfortable walking and standing for most of a day. 

Westminster and the Changing of the Guard walking tour

• Duration: 2 hours & 15 minutes
• Locations: Changing of the Guard, Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, 10 Downing Street, St James’s Park

This works if you want the ceremony and Westminster in the same morning. You cover Big Ben, Parliament Square and the surrounding streets with a guide filling in the history along the way. 

Keep an eye out for the parakeets in St James’s Park while you are there.

If you want more options than our top three, here are four others worth a look.

• Changing of the Guard walking tour (1 hour & 45 minutes)
• Changing of the Guard and Buckingham Palace state rooms (2 hours & 30 minutes)
• Top 20 London sites with the Changing of the Guard (4 hours)
• Private or family Changing of the Guard tour (2 hours)

Changing of the Guard tips

Make a backup plan

Whether you go alone or join a tour, have something else lined up for that morning. Late cancellations happen, and the ceremony is not rerun later the same day. Horse Guards on Whitehall is the obvious fallback, and the Churchill War Rooms and Westminster Abbey are both within a few minutes’ walk. 

Slot it into the first half of your trip rather than the final morning, so a cancellation still leaves you another scheduled date to aim for. Our 3 day London itinerary shows where we usually place it.

Make yourself comfortable

A lightweight rain jacket or poncho earns its place in your bag, and so do comfortable shoes. You’ll do a lot of standing, and a lot of walking on top of that if you follow the route. An umbrella is less useful than you would think in a crowd. 

Make your stuff safe

Think about what you actually need to carry. As in any big city, pickpockets work in crowded tourist spots, and a crowd standing shoulder to shoulder watching something else is ideal for them. A bag that closes properly and sits in front of you is worth having, especially if you have a camera or phone in your hand.

Make it in time

Work out in advance how long it takes you to reach Green Park or Charing Cross, and add some margin for walking and for the tube running slowly. For the railings at Buckingham Palace, 30 minutes early is about right. For Wellington Barracks or The Mall, 15 minutes is plenty. 

How will you watch the Changing of the Guard?

Whether you follow the full route, pick one spot, or hand the timings to a guide, start by checking the Household Division calendar for the days you are in London, then build the rest of that morning around it.

If the Changing of the Guard is part of a wider trip around Britain, our UK trip planner over on UK Travel Planning walks you through the rest.