Staffordshire soldiers begin King's Guard duties

Soldiers based in Stafford have joined the King's Guard in London.

Troops from the the Signal Regiment, Royal Corps of Signals at Beacon Barracks, have taken up positions at Buckingham Palace, St James's Palace and The Tower of London.

They have stepped away from their usual role of providing communications to Nato's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps to take up the ceremonial duty.

The soldiers are the first in the squadron's history to guard the King and have undergone five hours of training a day in preparation for the role.

Signaller Jack Speight, who is cyber engineer, said the opportunity to carry out the ceremonial drill was "a big privilege", but added that it was new to most of the soldiers.

"We've come on leaps and bounds, we've got a great instructor guiding us and everyone's got a team ethos", he added.

The regiment's normal work often involves the safe and secure transmission of messages, using increasingly complex encryption and decryption methods.

Maj Rebecca Parkinson, from Alsager, said they had been preparing for their new roles about two months.

She added: "The last time I did drill was at Sandhurst and that was about 12 years ago. So it's dusting off the cobwebs of what we've been taught throughout basic training and just refining it again, making it ready for the palace."

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.

Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.