To want guards with bearskins today?

[Choux]

Yesterday's changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace was cancelled due to the rain. It's our last day in London today so we want to see a guard in a sentry box today. A 3 yr old needs to see one.

There used to be sentry boxes outside St James' Palace but from looking at Google maps it looks like they moved the boxes inside about 10 years ago. Is there anywhere other than through the gates of Buck Palace that I can see a guard in a bearskin today?

(Posting here for more traffic)

I take the point about the leather.
But I think wearing leather shoes, which are functional, is slightly different from wearing animal fur which is being touted as a tourist attraction.

I'd go for Whitehall - the guards in red jackets with the big black hats have always been there when I've been down that way.

I totally get why your 3 YO wants to see them OP. I can well imagine a scenario where they've seen them in a book/on TV/whatever and you've said "when we go to London we'll see them for real" and they have got excited about that specific thing. And that's THE thing they want to see in London. That's totally normal 3 YO excitement. And yes, they will remember it. My goddaughter, who is 12, still talks about the day we fed the ducks in the park and they stole her pizza. That was a treat for her 3rd birthday. She describes the incident in detail, and we have a good laugh every time.

I hope you see them today OP, and that it makes your 3YO's day (week, month etc)

On the issue of the fur hats, if the fur is a natural by-product from the legal hunting of bears to keep the population down, I'd say that's better than huge amounts of polyester fibres made from fossil fuels.

Thank you for a lovely, normal response rather than diverting completely away from the request and ladling on personal criticism (entitled!). I can see how it would be a big deal for a little one, too. The look is iconic and if they've seen it in tv shows and picture books, it's what London means to them - as much as we all might have things we'd be desperate to see if we went to different cities in Europe.

Tower of London?

Thanks for the helpful replies. It's my nephew and I bought him a book and he has been looking forward to seeing them. Given the changing of the guard doesn't happen every day so isn't on today and @Runningupthecurtains says it's possibly still the RAF in the sentry boxes at the palace I think the horse-guards and possibly a beefeater will be as good as it gets.

He was disappointed yesterday that the changing of the guard didn't happen and he also couldn't actually see the king so whatever he sees today is already a consolation.

I just checked Stable Yard on google maps. The sentry boxes were outside the gates in August 2014 but have since been removed / moved inside. There are now police with guns who we chatted to yesterday.

They are culled legally in Canada. Speak to the Canadian government about it

Oh yes, caring about animal welfare and exploitation is very boring isn't it?

I hope you see them op. I remember when mine were little, they set their hearts on seeing or doing a specific thing and get quite obsessed.

It's a shame an innocent request for information is used as an excuse for being mean. It's what mumsnet used to be so good for.

Bearskins have been fake for years

Thanks @MissFancyDay but I did post in AIBU so was aware that as well as a lot of traffic I would get opinionated traffic. I don't need them to be wearing real bearskins but he wants to see the 'fuzzy hats' and the UK army uses bearskins to make the fuzzy hats. I don't get a say in the army uniform choices.

That would be relevant if they were farmed and kept under cruel conditions instead of being culled from the wild.

Apparently not. They are real.

www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/do-the-kings-guards-wear-real-bearskin-hats

You don't understand 3 year olds

'@Solidlump
Fair enough wanting to see guards.
But wanting to see them wearing the skin of some poor slaughtered animal? Horrible.'

Exactly.

I agree there are degrees of cruelty and keeping them in captivity would be worse.
But there is a lot of concern about the supply of the bear skins and the spiel about the culling.

The guards are wearing them whether OP goes to see them or not so this is a weird thing to jump on her for.

Most utterly tedious to keep droning on about your virtue.

The bears would be dead anyway, the Canadians cull them to control their numbers.

I agree if OP had just said she wanted to see the guards I wouldn't have commented on the thread at all.
It was the fact she explicitly said
she wanted to see the guards wearing bearskin that made it an issue.
I actually thought at first the whole point of starting the thread was to open up a debate about the rights and wrongs of the bear skin. I didn't realise OP didn't really care about that side of things and actually just wanted to see the guard.

No, they're not. They're still made from real bear skin. The pelts come from Canada where they regularly cull bears.

Fucking hell this thread is mad 😆

Bet you wish you'd never asked op! 😉

Most are synthetic. Those that are still bear skin are old (or rather the skins are recycled onto new hats for as long as they are useful).

Peak MN innit?

For all those who want synthetic (aka plastic) bearskins and shoes think how long they will take to disintegrate when they reach the end of their useful lifespan.

At least natural products will rot into the ground and be recycled ♻️