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They're Changing the Guard Again at Buckingham Palace after 18 Months

Members of the 1st Battalion the Coldstream Guards take part in the Changing of the Guard, in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace, in London, Britain, August 23, 2021. (Reuters)
Members of the 1st Battalion the Coldstream Guards take part in the Changing of the Guard, in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace, in London, Britain, August 23, 2021. (Reuters)
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They're Changing the Guard Again at Buckingham Palace after 18 Months

Members of the 1st Battalion the Coldstream Guards take part in the Changing of the Guard, in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace, in London, Britain, August 23, 2021. (Reuters)
Members of the 1st Battalion the Coldstream Guards take part in the Changing of the Guard, in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace, in London, Britain, August 23, 2021. (Reuters)

The famous "Changing the Guard" ceremony at Queen Elizabeth's Buckingham Palace in London returned on Monday after an 18-month absence due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The colorful ceremony sees The Queen's Guard handing over responsibility for protecting Buckingham Palace and St. James's Palace to the New Guard, usually involving soldiers in scarlet tunics and bearskin hats parading with an army band through central London.

Members of 1st Battalion the Coldstream Guards carried out the first guard change since March 2020 when the tradition, which usually attracts large numbers of tourists, was stopped to prevent crowds gathering as part of measures to help curb the spread of COVID-19.

Among the songs blasted out by the army band to entertain those watching was the song "Gold" by Spandau Ballet, one of a number of tunes played in tribute to Britain's successful Olympic competitors.

The queen, however, was not at the palace to see it as she is on her traditional summer vacation at her Scottish home, Balmoral.

Monday's return comes after a similar ceremony staged at Windsor Castle, the queen's home to the west of London also restarted last month.

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EU Scientists: May Was World's Second-hottest on Record

FILE PHOTO: A man sits on a tangle of branches in the Sacramento River while staying cool during a heat wave in Sacramento, California, US May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Fred Greaves/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A man sits on a tangle of branches in the Sacramento River while staying cool during a heat wave in Sacramento, California, US May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Fred Greaves/File Photo
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EU Scientists: May Was World's Second-hottest on Record

FILE PHOTO: A man sits on a tangle of branches in the Sacramento River while staying cool during a heat wave in Sacramento, California, US May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Fred Greaves/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A man sits on a tangle of branches in the Sacramento River while staying cool during a heat wave in Sacramento, California, US May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Fred Greaves/File Photo

The world experienced its second-warmest May since records began this year, a month in which climate change fueled a record-breaking heatwave in Greenland, scientists said on Wednesday.

Last month was Earth's second-warmest May on record - exceeded only by May 2024 - rounding out the northern hemisphere's second-hottest March-May spring on record, the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in a monthly bulletin, according to Reuters.

Global surface temperatures last month averaged 1.4 degrees Celsius higher than in the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period, when humans began burning fossil fuels on an industrial scale, C3S said.

That broke a run of extraordinary heat, in which 21 of the last 22 months had an average global temperature exceeding 1.5C above pre-industrial times - although scientists warned this break was unlikely to last.

"Whilst this may offer a brief respite for the planet, we do expect the 1.5C threshold to be exceeded again in the near future due to the continued warming of the climate system," said C3S director Carlo Buontempo.

The main cause of climate change is greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels. Last year was the planet's hottest on record.

A separate study, published by the World Weather Attribution group of climate scientists on Wednesday, found that human-caused climate change made a record-breaking heatwave in Iceland and Greenland last month about 3C hotter than it otherwise would have been - contributing to a huge additional melting of Greenland's ice sheet.

"Even cold-climate countries are experiencing unprecedented temperatures," said Sarah Kew, study co-author and researcher at the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute.

The global threshold of 1.5C is the limit of warming which countries vowed under the Paris climate agreement to try to prevent, to avoid the worst consequences of warming.

The world has not yet technically breached that target - which refers to an average global temperature of 1.5C over decades.

However, some scientists have said it can no longer realistically be met, and have urged governments to cut CO2 emissions faster, to limit the overshoot and the fueling of extreme weather.

C3S's records go back to 1940, and are cross-checked with global temperature records going back to 1850.