Fury as Windsor Castle homes of soldiers guarding Royal Family invaded by giant rats
EXCLUSIVE: Soldiers guarding the Royal Family are being bitten by rats in their sleep whilst resting between sentry duty shifts at Windsor Castle.
Windsor: Large brazen rat inside Welsh Guards accommodation
British soldiers guarding the Royal Family are living in rat infested accommodation at Windsor Castle. Troops from the Welsh Guards are tasked with standing guard and performing ceremonial duties but when not working, are having to put up with the unwanted rodents, with some being bitten as they sleep.
The pest issue has become so widespread, it is being included on handover briefs given when new troops mount for duty.
One Guardsman told Express.co.uk: “All the pest control can do is lay down traps, but it has not done anything. I can’t believe this is happening in a Royal residence, if this was a hotel, school or other workplace it would have been shut down.”
According to the latest annual reports published by the Royal Collection Trust, 1 million visitors visited Windsor Castle in 2023, with the estate generating over £61 million in income and making a profit of £8 million.
A spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace said: “The Guard Room falls within the remit of The Royal Household Property Section to maintain, and any reports of pests would be dealt with appropriately.”
The British Pest Control Association advises that rats are wary of new objects such as traps or poisons placed in their environment so don’t expect instant success with this approach.
The Guards, based at Combermere Barracks a mile from the Royal residence, are usually on duty in the castle for up to 48 hours, with guardsman spending two hours on sentry followed by a four hour break.
The footage of rats wandering around soldiers’ accommodation comes just a week after the MOD released the results of an anonymous survey which made for grim reading for military bosses.
The survey showed that 60% of respondents from all three services assessed their morale as being low, with only 10% rating their happiness as high.
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Three quarters of those surveyed said they were unsatisfied with the repairs and maintenance of service accommodation, down from 40% a decade ago.
New Defence Secretary John Healey has vowed to combat declining service numbers and repair the Armed Forces which he described as being “hollowed out”, in large part due to poor morale.
The MOD’s climate assessment shows that a quarter of serving personnel are planning to leave in the near future, with 11% intending to do it as soon as possible or already in the process of discharging.
