The changing of the guard ceremony at Buckingham palace has returned, Press Association reports. It was stopped at the beginning of the pandemic, however returned today for the first time, with the musical background paying tribute to the success of Team GB at the Olympics.

The military spectacle is a time-honoured tradition, attracting huge crowds of tourists outside Buckingham Palace.

As it returned today, with it a new guard, the 1st Battalion the Coldstream Guards, dressed in scarlet tunics and bearskin hats. Marching from Wellington Barracks to the palace where they took over duty from Nijmegen Company Grenadier Guards.

The Bank of the Coldstream Guards played Spandau Ballet’s "Gold," "The Olympic Theme," "Chariots of Fire" and Whitney Houston’s "One Moment in Time" in tribute of Britain’s achievements at this year’s Olympics.

Spectators flock to Buckingham Palace

The Queen is still away on her annual trip to Balmoral, but many still made their way out to Buckingham palace to see the ceremony return.

Garrison Sergeant Major Andrew Stokes, of the Coldstream Guards, who was in charge of the ceremony’s return, said: “It’s been a long time coming.”

“Bearing in mind it’s been 18 months since we last did a ceremonial Changing the Guard (at Buckingham Palace), there’s been an awful lot of hard work and preparation getting people up to standard.

“Eighteen months is a long time in the military – it’s a young man’s game – so there’ll be a lot of people on duty today that have been in the Army for 18 months but of course have never done this because we haven’t had the opportunity,”

The prestigious Household Division of the Army carries out state ceremonial and public duties such as Trooping the Colour, the State Opening of Parliament and mounting the Queen’s Guard at Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London and Windsor Castle.

The Guard ceremony also resumed at St James’s Palace.

In March 2020, all Guardsmen of the Household Division stopped ceremonial activities to avoid attracting crowds and prevent spreading Covid-19 any further. In July this year the Changing of the Guard ceremony returned to Windsor.

Guardsmen from the Household Division have been protecting the nation’s kings and queens since 1660 but they are also fighting soldiers who, when not performing ceremonial duties, are on operations or training.

Over the last year and a half, they have remained busy manning Covid-19 testing sites and vaccination centres across the country and carrying out operational training.