Swedish Royal Guards Face Prison Over Pub Crawl

Sweden's Royal Guards look dignified and impressive in their blue uniforms, but a group of the young soldiers has been arrested after a celebratory drinking party resulted in them guarding the royal palace while wildly, visibly drunk.

According to The Local, some young Royal Guards were celebrating their final shift guarding the palace, which was supposed to start at 10 p.m.. Before going on duty, they decided to make the rounds of several local bars in Stockholm's Old Town for a few hours. Their party went on for some time until they were spotted around 11 p.m. smoking and hanging out in their uniforms, which is not allowed while on duty. The soldiers were also carrying around loaded AK-47s with bayonets the whole time.

When the commanding officer went to see what was going on, it was immediately obvious that the soldiers were very drunk, in addition to being heavily armed and supposed to be protecting the palace. The weapons were confiscated and the drunk Royal Guards were taken to the police station, where they admitted to drinking but were reportedly too drunk to interrogate. They have since been charged with misconduct for the pre-shift pub crawl and could face fines and up to two years in prison.