King Charles breaks royal tradition to protect Buckingham Palace with major decision

King Charles III has made a surprising decision to protect the Buckingham Palace with the help of French troops.

The the 75-year-old monarch has allowed French troops to guard the Palace, in a historic first. The surprising decision has been made to mark 120 years of friendly Anglo-French relations.

The French Gendarmerie Nationale are set to parade together alongside soldiers of the British Army's Household Division.

However, they won’t take the place of their British counterparts in Guarding the King. That’s a responsibility only afforded to members of the British Armed Forces and Commonwealth troops.

Squadron Chief Guillaume Dewilde, leading the French detachment said: "I am extremely proud to have been asked to share this moment with our British friends. We are like siblings, and to celebrate this moment together is a symbol of the strength of the relationship between our two countries," as per the Daily Mail.

The ceremony, which is set to take place on Monday, will see the group of soldiers traditionally relieved by a new detachment of troops in front of an audience of 40 VIPs. They will be inspected by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the UK Chief of General Staff (CGS), the French Chief of the Army Staff, and the French ambassador to the UK .

The Gendarmerie will be marched on and off the Buckingham Palace forecourt by the Band of the Grenadier Guards, who will also perform both countries’ national anthems and a also a programme of Anglo-French music.

In April of 1904 an agreement known as the Entente Cordiale was decided between the United Kingdom and the French Republic that settled a number of controversial matters and signified a historic understanding and cooperation between the two countries.