The Household Cavalry Museum

The Household Cavalry Museum
If you are anything like me and love Royal ceremonies and military history then a visit to the newly opened Household Museum will prove to be very interesting because everything you will see as visitor is very real and factual. A few weeks back some Aussie friends and I decided to visit the museum because we had seen a documentary about the activities behind the actual daily changing of the guard at 11.00 am and the later inspection at 4.00 pm. Although I have lived in London for a few years on and off I can never get enough of its history and architecture. But to get back to the point about the museum- it is actually located in one of my most favourite places Whitehall. The building where the Horse guards are based dates as far back as 1750 and it intrigued me to learn that it still has an active role as the headquarters of the Household Cavalry Division. As you know by now I am Australian and I love details about the Royal family and its history and certain things about the tour stuck in my mind-like how some of the ceremonies that we take for granted are 350 years old and have remained intact for the most part. Also the fact that regiments do have an active military role outside the UK.
My group of friends and I were pleasantly surprised to see how the present regiment’s soldiers were working in the 18th century stables and you could actually hold a conversation with them or ask them questions about their highly disciplined training that they have to go under become a trooper. I must admit that the stables looked very grim and dreary to me but I can understand why they have been preserved as they are such an integral part of UK’s Royal heritage.
Coming back to the main subject I think the museum is well worth a visit especially if you love to link up the past with the present-and actually seeing the connection does help. The Household Cavalry’s history does stretch as far back as 1661 when Charles 11 instigated the division for his own protection. Today the protection element is still very strong in the UK but now there is a lot of involvement in peace keeping on the international side. The regiment does have an interactive role in maintaining peace in certain part of the globe.