The King’s Life Guard is conducted by soldiers of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment at Horse Guards. Horse Guards is named after the troops who have mounted The King’s Life Guard here since the Restoration of King Charles II in 1660.

The ceremony has remained mostly unchanged for over 350 years.

At 4pm every day in the courtyard on the Whitehall side of Horse Guards, a short ceremony takes place that brings an end to the sentry duties of the two mounted Household Cavalry in the sentry boxes.

The two troopers on horseback, along with six guards on foot, will form a line in the courtyard, where they are inspected by an officer in the regiment who will have ridden down from Knightsbridge Barracks by Hyde Park to do so. Once satisfied, the officer dismisses the troopers, ending the Mounted Guard’s duties for the day.