Greetings to all watchful warriors of Æthelmearc!

Spring Coronation fast approaches, and upon that glorious day, our new Queen will have need of the warriors of Her kingdom – be they fighters, fencers, archers, duellists, huntsmen, and warriors – to stand guard over her as she performs her duties at our events, and at the 50th Pennsic War!

To that end, Their Highnesses Prince Andreas and Princess Kallista have made me their Captain of Guards, and charged me with the duty of recruiting, training, regulating and equipping such warriors who might decide to take up service in the Guard.

If you have previously served on a Queen’s Guard, and desire to do so again, or we have already spoken on this matter, you need read no further. Simply follow this link and fill out an application: https://forms.gle/6A6UZnGFUj2jPBDu5

I appreciate your willingness to serve.

If you have not previously served on a Queen’s Guard, but are interested, please allow me to briefly explain the scope of the duties you would be volunteering for.

At events, during the day, Guards will take a shift or two as the on-duty guard. Shifts generally last an hour. During Courts, all guards will process in with Their Highnesses, then rotate in and out every few pieces of business, so that no one need stand the entire time. At Pennsic, this works the same, except that typically Her Majesty will need to be guarded each day of War Week, between 9 AM and 9 PM, give or take an hour.

Guard shifts will be signed up for weeks in advance by you online, so you will know when you are guarding, and you need only sign up for shifts at events you are attending – there’s no need for someone from Region 1 to travel up to Region 5 JUST to pull Guard duty. The goal is to have many guards, distributed throughout the kingdom’s five Regions, so that all can share the load.

As for what you will actually be DOING, you are there to guard the person of the Queen from physical harm, to add majesty and dignity to her retinue with your presence, and to clear a path (verbally) for her travels through crowded areas. You are not a retainer, you are not a servant, you are not a page. You do not fetch-and-carry, you do not hold drinks, you do not carry an umbrella. You are there strictly as a martial presence – courteous, but fierce.

The only requirements for this position are that you are a subject of the Crown of Æthelmearc, you are able to walk and stand for an uninterrupted hour under arms, you possess clean, presentable garb fit for the Royal presence, and Their Majesties approve of you.

Finally, you may be asking yourself, “Why should I do this?”

There are a number of benefits:

++ You get to serve your Kingdom doing a necessary job!
++ You will be noticed and thanked by the Crown
++ You will meet new people and make new friends
++ You will get a glance “behind the curtain” and see how a Reign is run
++ You get to be up front in court, so you see and hear everything
++ It’s a great chance to finally carry that awesome sword or axe you bought five years ago that you never use for anything because it’s not list-legal!
++ Serving on a Queen’s Guard is an entry-level stepping stone to positions of greater responsibility, if you desire
++ Serving on a Queen’s Guard is a great, low-stakes way to find out you HATE serving in very visible roles 😉

So, please, if you have read this far and are still interested, I would ask you to go here and fill out the short form therein: https://forms.gle/6A6UZnGFUj2jPBDu5

Yours in Glad Service,

Baron Snorri skyti Bjarnarson
Captain of the Guard

ps. If you have ANY questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me via ANY of these channels:

Email: hivemind@mvgc.net
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.haldenwang
Discord: hivemind#2589