Horse Guards, Happy Girls

Olivia finally got her trip to Horse Guards at Whitehall today. We witnessed the daily 4 p.m. inspection--a tradition carried on since Queen Victoria surprised the guards one day and found them all drunk and gambling and thereafter order daily inspections. The newly opened Horse Guards museum was a great hit. The girls went to great pains to each color a guardsman to enter into a coloring contest. They enjoyed seeing the horses and colorful guards, trying on the guards' somewhat heavy unforms and armor, learning about the guards' role in various military conflicts, their vital role in guarding the monarchs of England and occasional treachery within the ranks. We laughed when we learned that the various jobs of the Horse Guards are apportioned based on the results of the daily inspection: those who clean up best get to sit on the horses at entrances to royal palaces; those in the middle get to stand; those who perform most poorly get to muck out the stables the next day. Although this out-of-the-way museum isn't well known and only infrequently visited, it is a London treasure. More people should make the trek to enjoy the 300+ year history of this institution.