At exactly 11:00 a.m. on July 31, 2025 — under a grey London sky — the forecourt of Buckingham Palace transformed into something no royal watcher had ever seen.

A TikTok user said the tribute played outside Buckingham Palace was “Britishness at its best”

(Right) King Charles on June 13, 2025; (Right) Ozzy Osbourne on Dec. 11, 2024.Credit : 

King Charles’ soldiers honored Ozzy Osbourne with a musical tribute following the Prince of Darkness’ death.

On July 30, fan footage shared to TikTok showed the Band of the Coldstream Guards performing the Black Sabbath song “Paranoid” during the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace.

“This is awesome. Proudest I’ve felt of this country for about 15 years,” one commenter wrote below the video.

 

“This is Britishness at its best,” another said. “RIP Ozzy.”

The Changing of the Guard takes places of the King’s Guard comprised of the Coldstream Guards, Band of the Coldstream Guards and Scots Guards on July 9, 2023.

 

The Changing of the Guard is a royal ceremony in which active-duty soldiers who have been on patrol exchange places with the next rotation, with the “Old Guard” and “New Guard” swapping spots to the tune of music by a military band.

The guards honored the late Black Sabbath rocker on the day of his funeral procession in Birmingham, England, where crowds lined the streets in a reaction reminiscent of the public mourning of a royal death.

Osbourne died on Tuesday, July 22, at age 76, over five years after he announced that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2003.

Mourners line the streets as the funeral cortege of Ozzy Osbourne processes through Birmingham, England on July 30, 2025.BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty

The heavy metal legend performed from a throne at the Black Sabbath farewell concert on July 5 in his hometown of Birmingham.

“That show meant everything,” a source previously told PEOPLE. “It brought his career full circle.”

The rocker-turned-reality star crossed paths with the British royals several times through the years. He performed at the “Party at the Palace” concert celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s Golden Jubilee at Buckingham Palace in 2002 and mingled with the future King Charles at a reception for his charity, then called The Prince’s Trust, at Clarence House in 2006.

Ozzy Osbourne and then-Prince Charles share a laugh at a Clarence house reception on May 18, 2006.Cathal McNaughton-Pool/Anwar Hussein Collection/Getty

Following King Charles’ accession to the throne upon Queen Elizabeth’s death in September 2022, the “Crazy Train” singer shared a supportive word for the new sovereign.

“He’s a very, very nice man. He’s always treated me with the utmost respect,” Osbourne told The New York Post. “In fact, when I had my bike accident [in 2003], he sent me a bottle of scotch… I wish him all the best.”

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