Guess who was at the Royal Wedding of William & Kate

Unless you have been hiding under a rock in Bikini Bottom with Patrick the Starfish from SpongeBob SquarePants fame, you'll know that Britain's Prince William finally married Kate Middleton at Westminster Abbey on Friday, April 29, 2011 in a sumptuous show of British pageantry that attracted a huge world audience and breathed new life into the monarchy.

One million well-wishers watched military bands in black bearskin hats and household cavalrymen in shining breastplates escorting the beaming couple in a 1902 open-topped state landau carriage after the ceremony.

The soldiers in black bearskin hats are the Queen's Foot Guards / Palace Guards and the cavalrymen are none finer than the Queen's Household Cavalry - the Blues and Royals, and the Life Guards. Click on the picture below for a bigger and better view of Her Majesty's Royal Guards.

Allow me to share with you pictures of these fine 12-inch action figures from the Palitoy Action Man line. Palitoy produced and released these magnificent 1:6 scale Ceremonials in the 1970s which were amazingly detailed and intricate for their time. Mind you, these were targeted at children and till today, no other 1/6 manufacturer has ventured to reproduce most of these figures. Hasbro did re-release these Action Man figures under the Action Man 40th Anniversary Nostalgic Collection which allowed many adult collectors to re-live and revisit their childhood again as well as for new collectors to marvel at these vintage styled action figures.


First up is the Action Man Blues and Royals. The Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons) (RHG/D) is a cavalry regiment of the British Army and part of the Household Cavalry.

For a FULL review with a lot more pictures, check out my earlier post HERE.

Next up is the Action Man Life Guards. The Life Guards (LG) is the senior regiment of the British Army. In 1992, the Life Guards were joined together with the Blues and Royals in a 'Union' - not an amalgamation - forming the Household Cavalry Regiment (armoured reconnaissance) and the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment (ceremonial duties).

For a FULL review with a lot more pictures, check out my Action Man Life Guards post.

The Action Man Grenadier Guard. They are part of the Queen's Foot Guards. When The Queen is in residence, there are four Foot Guards at the front of the building; when she is away there are two.

More pictures of the Action Man Grenadier Guard plus a Playmobil version at my earlier post HERE.

From a distance the full dress uniforms worn by the men of the five Regiments of Foot Guards look identical. All the Officers and Guardsmen wear the black bearskin cap, scarlet tunic which has a dark blue collar, shoulder strips pipped in white, and cuffs of dark blue and white, dark blue trousers with a red stripe down the seam of each leg and a white leather buff belt.

But there are subtle differences in the plumes, plume colours, button spacing and collar badges. Featured below is the Dragon Models Limited (DML) 1:6 scale 12-inch Coldstream Guard action figure. Dragon's Coldstream Guard is a marked improvement over the Action Man Grenadier Guard and it's too bad that Dragon did not go on to produce the other Ceremonial figures :(

Dragon released this Coldstream Guard figure in 2002 and you can follow this link to view more pictures.

No royal wedding is complete without the Royals, Prince William and Prince Harry. I give you 12-inch Harry and William figures, released by Hot Toys as modern British soldiers who fought in Afghanistan.

The picture below is a close-up of Hot Toys 1/6 scale British Army Blues and Royals Regiment Lieutenant 12-inch figure in Afghanistan, showing off the 1/6 head sculpt that is supposed to bear some resemblance to a certain Prince Harry. A full review is provided HERE, covering everything from box packaging to uniform, gear and weapons used by the modern British military.

And here is a close-up picture of Hot Toys 1/6 scale fully pose-able 12-inch action figure of a British Army Blues and Royals Regiment Tank Commander in Afghanistan, offering us a look at the 1:6 head sculpt, supposedly of Prince William, recently married and heir to the throne. MORE pictures here.