Prince William reviewed the new military parade at Horse Guards Parade in central London. The event is known as the Colonel’s Review and has more than 1,400 soldiers of the Household Division and the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery being inspected by the heir to the throne.
Unfortunately, proceedings for the military event did not go as planned, since three British guards fainted while doing their duty. The incident took place on Saturday, June 10 at 2:00 p.m, it was at that moment that three members of the royal guard collapsed due to the high temperatures in the capital of England. As a result, the first one was taken to the outskirts of the square, while the other two had to be evacuated on a stretcher.
It is said that many factors played into this event, the first one being London’s high 30-degree temperature, as well as the fact that the soldiers had probably stood for hours with a thick uniform under the intense sunlight.
In addition, one noticeable aspect from the recorded video images is that none of the fellow guards attempted to help or provided first aid after seeing the incident. In spite of this action being perceived as “insensitive at first”, it is actually a protocol requirement to not break the formation under any circumstance. Fortunately, the soldiers were quickly assisted by personnel who was in charge of situations like this.
Prince William later praised the royal soldiers in Twitter. He thanked them for their hard work, in spite of being affected by the heat and congratulated them on their hardwork. He also acknowledged the difficult conditions the men were in while rehearsing for the parade.