If you’ve ever spent your morning commute daydreaming about starting afresh with your career, this feature is for you.
Each Monday, the Money blog speaks to someone from a different profession to discover what it’s really like. Today, we speak to Lance Corporal Clark, 34, who serves in the King’s Life Guard, guarding the ceremonial gateways to Buckingham Palace and St James’s Palace.
Our salaries rise… As a lance corporal in the British army, we earn approximately £34,000. This increases incrementally with each year of service and can increase with time away from home.
We get 39 days of holiday… At the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment (HCMR) on ceremonial, our first timing is at 6.30am, and I am often finished by 4pm. On Saturday, I will work 6.30am to 12pm, with some Sundays/weekends off. We are entitled to 39 days of leave, which is often prescribed to us to fit in with the ceremonial operations in London. We are able to carry over up to 15 days each year, which is great if you haven’t been able to take it that year.
The army pays into a pension for us… As an employee, I can opt to contribute. The army contributes annually to your pension by adding 1/47th of your pensionable earnings into a Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) pot. Retirement is a long way off!
It’s difficult to stay still… The state helmets you see are incredibly heavy and are quite painful. It is instilled discipline to not fidget and readjust. It becomes easier to maintain this discipline when in the public eye and in front of the sovereign. I try and think about how I look and hold myself on parade, which helps me remain rigid throughout.
While I enjoy working with horses… the day-to-day lifestyle can be repetitive and time-consuming. Horses need mucking out, exercise and grooming every day of the year. To add that on to all other aspects of the job role can be challenging.
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One thing that will surprise you is… the time it takes to get kit ready for a parade and the logistics of what goes on behind the gates. Once duties are established, each soldier is then left with the trust that they will be on time, in the correct kit and at the highest standard. It is part of my job role as a junior non-commissioned officer to ensure this happens.
The most annoying in terms of the public is… we are filmed continuously by TikTokers. This means any mistake is caught on camera and exacerbated. It puts extreme pressure on junior soldiers when internet trolls/keyboard warriors criticise them. We can be seen as a tourist attraction, which is not our purpose. Sometimes that can feel unrewarding for what we do, as we are dual-role, operationally trained soldiers. Once our time has been completed here at London, we then go to our sister regiment where we then conduct our mounted and dismounted skills and drills within the field army.
When the public gets too close to me… I will always de-escalate before escalating the situation, reminding the civilian not to touch or to stand clear of the guard when moving from their posts with an order by raising the voice. If they’re not listening, then I will raise the voice further and if that does not work then I will move the horse in a position of authority, which always allows the message to be received. We also have armed police to help de-escalate and help with any non-compliant civilians. I have not been in a situation where I have had to break character; however, sometimes I can be tested if a comedian or someone of that nature tries to make us break character.
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My tip to keep discipline is to… utilise self-pride when it comes to being in and out of uniform. Always put in the best effort you can as it is your name that is carried with you, with all that you do in life. So, look to reach above and beyond what is required. We are only human so when mistakes are made, learn from them and carry on putting one foot in front of the other. Above and beyond every day is a hard ask of ourselves, so the baby steps towards that direction are what counts.
We get to work closely with the royals… When we have state visits we escort the monarch wherever they may go, so there are many times we are working very closely with the security and team around the monarch to ensure smoothly run operations. We also have the privilege of the monarch or other members of the Royal Family visiting our barracks in London on occasion, when we get to meet them formally and show our respects.
We’re not allowed to share any royal secrets… Our duty as soldiers is to protect and serve. I have pledged my allegiance and signed my contract to serve the monarch. It is not in any soldier’s nature to be disloyal.
It was a privilege to meet the late Queen… I am very lucky to have had a few exchanges with the Queen when she visited our barracks in London after I was part of the first team in history to get the Cambrian Patrol Gold Award at HCMR. This is an international military patrols competition, considered one of the toughest challenges in the world. She then carried out an inspection of the horses and stables. I won the Princess Elizabeth Cup for best turned-out trooper at the Royal Windsor Horse Show, where Her Majesty handed me the award. It’s a privilege to have had such experiences.
I have had many memorable moments… Leading the Household Division down the mall for Her Majesty’s birthday parade as the retinue party and receiving the award for the Princess Elizabeth Cup from her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II are both my most memorable days on the job here on ceremonial duty.
The Household Cavalry Regiment is within the Royal Armoured Corps (RAC)… with our other duty as armoured reconnaissance specialists. When signing up to the army at the careers office, after completing some assessments for suitability, I selected the RAC and was given a few options of regiment. I chose the Household Cavalry for variety of role, covering mounted and dismounted soldiering, ceremonial operations and the strong regimental history.
All soldiers on the ceremonial side of our regiment are operational fighting soldiers first… We are trained in phase 1 establishments to operate in the field, including rifle and medical training. We then commence phase 2, which is orientated to our chosen profession within the armoured corps. For Household Cavalry men/women, this entails driving and maintenance of vehicles, as well as further developing their dismounted skills and drills with radio communications and navigation. After this, we go to riding school in Windsor, which consists of 14 weeks of Khaki Ride – learning how to look after and ride horses, followed by five weeks of kit ride – learning how to clean and ride in full state kit. These five weeks are some of the most arduous weeks of training, ensuring soldiers reach the standard to turn out on parade in front of the sovereign. The total training time is 45 weeks.
