I am looking for someone to protect a servant (Protagonist) of the Queen while she performs secret work in the Palace. This young woman answers only to Her Majesty. These soldiers must be absolutely reliable. Would that be a British Royal Marine, not a spook?
Would someone be able to give this tale a read for the correctness of British speech, customs, and Royal protocols? At this time I do not think this story will be overly large. Perhaps twenty thousand words? It may be seen as a bit of a parody on the state of the world, and not a criticism of the Royals.
I have no idea why I want this to be British?
Gwen
Comments
The Royalty and Special Protection Branch
Well, if your character is doing "secret work," then she probably doesn't want to bring attention to herself by having a marine openly guarding her.
Normally, MI5 or the SIS would be assigned protection work for covert activities, but, since you said you don't want a "spook," then I suppose you can have a detail from the Protection Command of London's Metropolitan Police as her bodyguard/s. Protection Command is a unit of London Police's Special Operations Directorate. The command's RaSP branch (Royalty and Special Protection) is in charge of providing security for royalty, parliamentarians and other important personnel, and they are usually in plain clothes. Totally reliable. They provide security for the Prime Minister, the Queen and the Royal Family, in fact.
And, though they are part of the London Police Force, they are one of the exceptions that are authorized to carry weapons.
Hope that helps.
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Consider
You could also consider the SAS these are designed for deep cover work and are highly trained and not spooks.
The Royal Marines are a bit of a blunt instrument for work like you are considering.
Marines
Instead of SAS , if you want to stick with marines, you could use the SBS (Special Boat Service > where SAS is more like DELTA, SBS are the British SeAL's more or less). SBS are also less known to the general public which gives you also more leeway.
On another note if you follow Flemming's MI6 version the spooks hold navy grades so you might have some leeway there if you want to.
L
My name is James,
James Bond
His rank of 'Commander' was earned within the Navy and was transfered to the Naval Reserve list when seconded to MI6.
I also believe that while "Bond" is a fictional character there is fact in the Inteligence services of the world recruiting from the armed services.
The main reason would be they wouldnt have spend-out on certain parts of training.
James
I always believed that Flemming's (as I don't have a clue of the reality of it) MI6 used the navy ranks as a way to keep who is in MI6 of the 'offical' books but still have a cover for certain things (like being in her majesties service). Goverment accounting and all that.
the M in MI
stands for Military
MI5 and MI6 are the survivors of Britain's military intelligence departments, at the time Flemming was in the SOE the bulk of the MIs were either serving military or highly focused specialists (like all the smegging magicians)
Bond?
I thought Bond was an orphan taken into the service and trained from early childhood; as were all the .00's. But it as been so long since I read the series that my memory is possibly false.
If it's secrecy that's the
If it's secrecy that's the key, avoid the services and military and go with a member of the Royal Household as the military people would be known to their services and unless there was some trickery and manipulation that made them invisible to searches. Anyone who gets close to the queen would be under scrutiny so the place that people can't get close to is where you need someone.
You might be better off going with someone who is a simple hired hand who works closely with the queen such as a personal maid. This person would undergo a slew of checks and over time the queen's closest allies in the household would know who to trust and who to keep at arm's length.
I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime
I have to agree
with Ef,
A personel servant is one of those poeple within a royal household that is always seen, though they are never acknowledged, to all intents and purposes they are invisible.
I paraphase
"A ladys maid knows what goes on in the household, and if she doesn't she isn't a true Ladys Maid"
People often start one career and move to another, maybe the person could have trained as a dectective ...
Experience
Your protector could have been in the military, and either not re-enlisted or have been downsized. They could then have joined the police / Royal protection.
If you still want to keep to a serving military person, then perhaps someone from the Household Division.
thanks for reminding
Beefeaters are all retired military of a certain level and they work in the Royal Palace.
Beefeaters (wikipedia)
L
Protection
It depends entirely upon what activities that you anticipate that the proctor might engage in. If you are proposing the possible use of firearms then the protector will have to be a serving member of a covert part of one of the UK forces such as SAS, but more likely Special Branch as they have a wealth of deep cover expertise and, more importantly, access to a range of intelligence that a member of the SAS would not have, as their knowledge is of a need to know basis only. The Royal protection Squad is part of Special Branch. Usually, both the SAS and MI5 are intelligence gathering organisations. MI5 is theUK focussed inward intelligence operation. MI6 is outward focused, which is the one James Bond was part of.( Ian Flemming was part of the true 'Man who never was' story which was about mis-directing the planned location for D Day)
If the protection is not likely to be 'wet' (fatal activities) then the use of a private service set up and run by ex service specialists might be the best route to look at - organisations who tend to protect celebrities and wealthy people, etc. This would allow for fisticuffs etc. if required.
Happy to proof read if you would like.
It has been mentioned
but not quite made clear though: MI stands for military intelligence and MI5 and MI6 are indeed aimed at home MI5 and abroad MI6.
That is the reason, why British television invented a Starsky and Hutch like team of investigators working for a CI5 (supposedly meaning Civil Intellignce). As these two "undercover" officers were invented, why not join a little to this UK undercover unit, which would buy you lot of artistic licence?
You better pay a lot of attention to the differences between American and English, though, "gentified slang" like bob (he former Shilling but still used as in "That might set you back a couple of Bob" or quid (Pound Sterling in a phrase similar to the one before) to give just an example. Then there are different words for car parts (boot = trunc and stuff) as well as different uses or spelling of military ranks, or the use of the term Tea as a meal for what fromerly was called dinner. If today someone sais they are going to prepare tea they are more than just likely talking about anything but the actual beverage (giggles).
Lots of little stumbling blocks, if you want it to seem truly British.
Monique.
Monique S
Tea/dinner/supper
These designations depend significantly on where you are in the country, and what 'class' you appear to be.
Having moved around the UK a bit over my lifetime I can tell you that the differences can be quite confusing.
As London these days is full of foreigners I have no idea what anyone there refers to any of those meals as. (I'm assuming that most of the action will take place in Buck House, although Windsor, Sandringham and Balmoral could be options.)
Also: Though 'MI' does indeed mean Military Intelligence, the function these days is almost purely civilian and so are the people who work there. Of course you will get retired/seconded service folks, but that can happen in any job. These days MI5 and MI6 have been known to advertise in the local papers and on the Internet. No service record required.
Penny
As I said
Them English make a mess of English. Yuh'all wud think a class of people wid a language named afer them would know how to spell it and speak it. Wudden yuh?
Yuh cudden tell I's wusn't full blown Frenchy whens I writ Huntress. Com on be honest.
hugs hon
Barb
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
Thank You
I appreciate all your advice. It has been quite helpful.
I've had a bit of exposure to UK culture, having had a woman from the North of London live with me for two months. She could be quite punishing if she thought I had erred, but generally sociable and friendly. I'll likely make errors, no matter how much I seek to avoid them.
Gwen
just
Bear in mind, it's unlikely that Royal staff will hail from London, they come from all over the place!
There is a ring road around London, the M25, beyond which most Brits manage to live. However people living within that loop think the whole nation is contained within that strip of often immobile traffic bearing tarmac.
On the subject of meals, the Queen will drink tea and the meal 'Tea' in the palaces will be a light repast in late afternoon. The main evening meal will be Dinner, served after 6pm maybe followed by Supper from 9pm. Of course, before that will be Breakfast, there may occasionally be a snack or Elevensies late morning before Lunch between 12 and 1pm.
Outside of the landed classes the evening meal may be called Dinner or indeed Tea depending on location/family tradition. Just to further add confusion, Lunch is often described as Dinner across much of the country (as in Sunday Dinner which is usually eaten early afternoon.) Essentially any cooked meal served after 12 can be described as Dinner.
I haven't forgotten Brunch, its an Americanism used by trendy wannabe's and rarely used outside of those circles.
As for what might be served at those meals - well all I can say is, don't believe Wikipedia!
Have fun
Mads aka Lady Charlton
Madeline Anafrid Bell
Military
If you want a 'feel' for the services, you can pick up a few pointers in my stories 'Uniforms', 'A Longer War' and 'Extra Time'.