The soldiers guarding the Royal Palace in Oslo are also feeling the summer heat. They were served water Thursday evening, yet on the whole it’s business as usual for them.
The Royal Guard stands outside the Royal Palace all day, every day. Each guard’s shift normally lasts two hours, but this can be adjusted during periods of extreme weather.
—“On particularly hot or cold days, the Commander of the Guard can reduce the length of the shift to just one hour, or however long is reasonable,” says Lars Strøm to the Norwegian News Agency. He is head of communications in the Armed Forces.
With an outside temperature of 30°C (86°F) in Oslo on Thursday, which is felt closer to 40°C (104°F) under the Royal Guard’s thick wool uniforms, even the soldiers need to replenish their fluids. The Norwegian News Agency got to witness Thursday evening the soldiers of the Royal Guard serving each other water while on duty.
—“Even our best soldiers absolutely must drink water to be able to carry out their duties. Remember to drink water and enjoy your summer!” Strøm says.
The Royal Guard wears the same wool uniform year-round, but the clothes worn under the uniform vary by season.
—“In the wintertime the soldiers of the Royal Guard will often wear several layers of wool under the uniform. In the summertime they just wear t-shirts,” Strøm says.
The Norwegian royal family and royal guard are maybe less known internationally, but you’d still be surprised at how much John Cheese is willing to gawk at any quaint™ European royal guard with a funny costume. LoSt tOuRiSt rEvEnUeS is of course a nonsensical argument in any monarchy, though.
I forgot where I read it from, but France is making more monarchy-related money from tourists than TERF Island because they
’d the monarchs and let people tour the palaces and shit.
Hey all of a sudden I’ve got an idea how the US could go back to being a premiere tourist destination again…
As if you couldn’t have soldiers prancing around in silly 19th century costumes for the benefit of tourists in a republic.
You could have even more tourism and funny royal guards if you replaced the king with a bunch of reenactors doing tours while playing whichever kings were interesting.