Guarding the Guards

Here's another back blip from my trip to London last Thursday. I hadn't appreciated that the Horse Guards now have to have an armed police guard. Rather depressing. I can remember the time (I may have said this before!) when Downing Street was still a public thoroughfare, where young would-be Prime Ministers could pose for photos in front of the famous door to Number 10,  but now it is heavily gated and guarded. The only obvious issue I could see, as far as the Horse Guards were concerned, was the milling crowd of tourists both in front of the sentry box and nearly impeding the foot soldier as he marched through from the inner courtyard to have a word with his mounted colleague. Understandably, there was far less public interest in the police guard than the ceremonially uniformed Horse Guards.