Buckingham Palace sets Changing of Guard ceremony to ‘Gladiator’ theme

Ahead of the Wednesday world premiere of Gladiator II at the Odeon Luxe in London’s Leicester Square, the Buckingham Palace had a special theme set for the Changing of the Guard ceremony.

A special recital of soundtracks was staged on the day of the King’s celebratory reception at the Palace in honour of the UK’s film and television industry.

King Charles’ office released the video of the impressive performance by the regimental band.

“Are you not entertained?!” the caption read. “Today we are celebrating all things Film and TV - looking forward to The Royal Film Performance tonight!”

In the video shared, the new guard, the Queen’s Gurkha Engineers, marched with the Band and Bugles of The Rifles, from nearby Wellington Barracks to the Palace to take over the duty from the old guard.

The Band and Bugles of The Rifles performed John Williams’ The Symphonic Marches which incorporates the Raiders March from the Indiana Jones movie Raiders Of The Lost Ark and the Imperial March from Star Wars. They also did a rendition of Hairspray’s You Can’t Stop The Beat, as well as an ABBA medley.

The traditional ceremony took place just ahead of the the reception the King had hosted for directors including director of Gladiator sequel, Sir Ridley Scott, actors, TV presenters, stunt performers and costume designers at Buckingham Palace.

The Queen was also in attendance at the royal reception amid her chest infection recovery.