page_title: Queen's Guard
section_title: Edinburgh
hierarchical_section_title: Queen's Guard / Operating area / Edinburgh
caption_attribution_description: A Guard posted on the Esplanade outside the entrance to Edinburgh castle, during the week when the Queen is in residence in the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
context_page_description: The Queen's Guard and Queen's Life Guard are the names given to contingents of infantry and cavalry soldiers charged with guarding the official royal residences in the United Kingdom. The British Army has regiments of both Horse Guards and Foot Guards predating the English Restoration, and since the reign of King Charles II these regiments have been responsible for guarding the Sovereign's palaces. The Guards are fully operational soldiers.
context_section_description: The Guard is also mounted in Edinburgh at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queen's official residence in Scotland, and at Edinburgh Castle. Unlike in London, there is no Guards battalion permanently based in the city, so the Guard is provided by whichever the resident infantry battalion is at Redford Barracks in the city. The guard is not mounted throughout the year – it is usually mounted daily during the week that the Queen spends at the palace (prior to her summer break at Balmoral), and during the Lord Commissioner's Week. Until 2001, sentries were permanently posted on the Esplanade at the entrance of the castle, ostensibly as the guards to the Honours of Scotland housed inside. The sentries were changed every hour. However, cutbacks in the size of the army led to the permanent castle guard being abolished – now, the guard is mounted at the same time as the guard at the Palace, or when there is a royal visitor to Edinburgh. Sentries are also posted during the month of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, usually from a unit that has an anniversary that year.
  As part of the reorganisation of the infantry following the 2003 defence review, the 1st and 2nd Battalions, Royal Regiment of Scotland (the Royal Scots Borderers and Royal Highland Fusiliers) were permanently based in Edinburgh, rotating between 19 Light Brigade or 52 Infantry Brigade. Whichever battalion is assigned to 52 Brigade was responsible for performing public duties in Edinburgh.
  As part of the 2010 defence review, announcements of further reforms to the infantry led to the reduction of the 5th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland to an incremental company, similar to the three companies of foot guards stationed in London, which is now public duties unit permanently based in Scotland.
caption: A sentry of the Royal Regiment of Scotland posted on the Esplanade outside Edinburgh Castle
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS OPTICAL CO.,LTD", "Image Model": "X200,D560Z,C350Z", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2008:08:03 15:14:35", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image CustomRendered": "Normal", "Image ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "Image WhiteBalance": "Auto", "Image DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "Image SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "Image GainControl": "None", "Image Contrast": "Normal", "Image Saturation": "Normal", "Image Sharpness": "Normal", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 50, 53, 48, 0, 0, 20, 0, 1, 0, 20, 0, ... ]", "Image ExifOffset": "680", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1258", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7554", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "26/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "64", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2006:07:07 12:34:22", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2006:07:07 12:34:22", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "5", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "24/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "87/5", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1536", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2048", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed"}