Go home Hogvakten, your drunk
Serving continuously since 1523, the Swedish Royal Guard (Högvakten) at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, and a smaller detachment at Drottningholm Palace, is a very public face of the sovereign and the armed forces. Not to be confused with the regular battalions of black-uniformed Life Guards (Livgardet) that stand watch at sensitive areas of the palaces, the blue uniformed Royal Guard is drawn from rotations of active and reserve units of the Swedish Army to stand watch for a week or so at a time.
It seems that a trio of Swedish Royal Guards decided to paint the town red just before their last shift.
“The soldiers, aged 25-27, were celebrating their final shift and had asked permission for a few hours’ leave before their shift began at 10pm, reported the Sydsvenskan newspaper. They went out in Stockholm’s Old Town (Gamla Stan), visiting local bars, and heading back to the castle several times asking for extended leave.
It wasn’t until 11pm when passersby noticed them smoking and chatting amongst themselves, which is not allowed when on duty.
The officer in command confronted the soldiers, who were carrying loaded AK-5C assault rifles with bayonets, and noticed how intoxicated they were. They were then taken to a police station and had their weapons confiscated. There, the soldiers admitted to have been drinking but were too drunk for interrogation.
An alcohol test was carried out at 2am, four hours after they had stopped drinking. The result showed that they had a blood alcohol content of 0.6, 0.75, and 1.59 promille respectively. By comparison, the limit for drunk driving in Sweden is 0.2 promille and 1.0 promille for aggravated drunk driving.”
The Royal Guards in Sweden are a little less formal than what you find at Buckingham. I mean come on, they have been at peace since 1814