One of the more popular tourist attractions in Stockholm is the Change of the Guard at the Royal Palace. This ceremony is performed daily and even though I've been in Stockholm many times, I've never seen it before. I was very excited about this and I was hoping that this would be something the kids would enjoy too.
During the summer season, the mounted guards march all the way from the Army Barraks through town and up to the Royal Palace. We didn't see the parade as we had gone straight to the Outer Courtyard to get some good viewing spots for the ceremony itself - and we weren't the only ones, so many people!
The kids did really well considering the whole ceremony took about 40 minutes. Linnea lost a bit of interest after a while, but Lucas seemed to like it.
I really enjoyed it, it was very interesting. There was an MC who told us all about the Royal Guard and their duties, both in swedish and english; and who continuously informed us visitors about what was happening in the Courtyard throughout the ceremony.
The Guard was accompanied by The Mounted Band of The Royal Guard, and they even got a little spot of their own in the limelight, performing a mini concert - in formation! As an old marching band player myself, I really liked this part of course! Impressive control of the horses, while the were playing at the same time. The guy who played the drums was controlling his horse with his feet!
I'm so glad we went to see this! It was really nice.
You can visit several parts of the Royal Palace as well but we gave that a miss this time. That might have to wait until the kids are even older.
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