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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Royal wedding's lone American will guard Queen on horseback

Streets of Manhattan, riding skateboards and listening to punk rock, Denton John never expected to find himself where he'll be on Friday -- on horseback, boots gleaming, as the only American in the royal wedding of Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Just where he will be, in white gloves and red plume, as a member of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, protecting Queen Elizabeth II as she leaves Westminster Abbey to return to Buckingham Palace.

Spring sunshine glints off his breastplate outside the palace, Trooper John, 23, explains that he grew up in New York City, the son of immigrants from the small island nation of Grenada.

Prince William and Prince Harry, the second and third in line to the British throne, served in after they graduated from Sandhurst, the British military academy.

Unlike the royals, though, John had never been on a horse before joining the army.
That's actually not unusual in the storied unit, he says: "About 90% of Household Cavalry troops never sat on a horse" before entering the Army.
But with two years of training now under his belt, John will spend all day Friday on one, culminating when his squadron, the Blues & Royals, escorts the queen's carriage home after her grandson's wedding.
And although tourists rightly see the Household Cavalry as a showpiece of the British monarchy, John is quick to point out that they are soldiers first and foremost.

John will be in a unique position Friday, says Captain James Hulme of the Household Cavalry.
"He is the only American in the Household Cavalry, and as far as we know, the only American in the Royal Wedding," Hulme says with a grin. "It's our version of the 'American Dream.

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