The first Black Solider to Guard HM The Queen at Buckingham Palace

Following on from my previous articles on my 'Black Britannia' photo project, I thought I'd give a little more context behind my thoughts and planning for this project by talking about some of the more interesting and challenging shoots that resulted from putting my idea together. 

During my search for participants to include in my project, I specifically looked for three main criteria for their inclusion. 

1) That they either had made an impression on me growing up.

2) They had managed to break through the 'glass ceiling' which has kept many back from opportunities or from fulfilling their full potential. 

3) Those who I personally thought not only warranted a place in Black Britannia but would also make for a fascinating pictorial inclusion in the project. 

One of these exciting inclusions would be Irish Guardsman Nicholas Tunge. I wanted to include someone from the military; I knew how signing up for the armed services was an important and sometimes a welcome path for many young people from the Afro-Caribbean community. So my first thoughts were how great it would be if I could find a black soldier serving with one of the most senior regiments in the British Army. I contacted the Household Cavalry, the Life Guards and The Blues and Royals, the trusted guardians of the Monarch. However, I had no luck with these regiments. But through a combination of luck and good fortune in my search for a guardsman, I did receive a letter. A High ranking officer belonging to the Irish Guards informed me about one of their soldiers who just might fit my requirements. I hadn't heard of this regiment but was surprised to find out that the Irish Guards in common with the other Guards regiments had the duty of guarding the Queen at ceremonial events. They also wore the iconic Bearskin headwear along with their famous bright scarlet tunics.

I was invited to the Wellington Barracks for a meeting, the barracks being situated only three hundred yards from Buckingham Palace. Next, was a pleasant conversation, over a perfectly presented pot of tea and biscuits in the officer's mess. The commanding officer told me how Nicholas happen to be the first black soldier in the companies history to have the honour of guarding HM The Queen at Buckingham Palace; he had also taken part in several Trooping of the Colour ceremonies.  

I immediately had visions of producing a striking environmental portrait of this black soldier on guard at Buckingham Palace; unfortunately, this was not to happen.

I was pleased to find a set of Polaroid's taken from the shoot with the exposed film. In the days before digital photography, this was how I used to check whether my exposure and composition were correct when shooting with film.

I arranged to return and photograph Nicholas at the barracks. The regiment were extremely helpful in their assistance with me and allowed me to visit most areas of the barracks, finding suitable locations for my shoot, except for the one that I really wanted, access to Buckingham Palace. 

But the shoot still went exceptionally well, a warm but overcast day; I'd picked my locations beforehand, so I knew what lighting to bring along with me. I kept this simple, a long zoom reflector on a single Profoto strobe for the outside portraits and a beauty dish for the interior shots inside Nicholas's barracks. 

I decided again to shoot with my Hasselblad 503CW film camera. I also made the decision to shoot with colour transparency, a film stock which had always been a favourite to work with, especially the Kodachrome trademark film, which had such rich and vibrant colours. Unfortunately, Kodachrome had been discontinued probably because of its cost to buy and then process, the film needed to be sent away to Kodak for processing. I'm not even sure whether other colour transparency films are still available. 

Here's a couple of rolls of Fuji colour transparency processed from my shoot with Nicholas.

It's so great to look back at my work from this shoot and the project in general. It brings back a lot of memories for me; many I remember concerning my feelings of insecurity towards the project. What was I actually trying to do? Would there be the purposeful outcome or even any tangible results from the work produced? Would the return for the effort I was putting into this project be worth all the extra hours away from home and of course the added expense? At this time during the project, I had no idea of the outcome or even if I'd get to show my work. But the replies kept coming back, all saying yes to my requests, so I had no choice but to keep going. 

Nicholas Tunge was born and grew up in Kenya. He served in the Irish Guards from 2002 to 2006. He studied accountancy before applying for and then joining the Irish Guards. As a young boy in Kenya, Nicholas and his family watched the Trooping of the Colour via the BBC on their small TV set.

Nicholas remembered his reaction as a young boy on first seeing the event, "All the soldiers with their smart red uniforms and the Queen riding by, it was really a fantastic sight to see, it seemed like a fairytale, it looked so amazing. I never thought that one day I'd be lining up in front of the Queen or belonging to one of her regiments".    

Nicholas was also one of only a small number of black soldiers to take part in the ceremony of the Changing of the Queen's Guard at Buckingham Palace. 

It was a real pleasure in getting to know Nicholas a little and also photographing him for my project. I'd love to pass on some of my photographs from our time together to Nicholas someday, we never had the opportunity to meet again - hopefully, we'll still be able to catch up with each other again in the near future.  

Nicholas Tunge left the army in 2006 to pursue a new career.

The exhibition launched at London's City Hall, and I had the unexpected pleasure of the then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown opening and making a fantastic speech on the night. 

See the opening night here.   

John Ferguson Photography 

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