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Royal guards protecting King Charles have been living in disgusting squalor in the presitigious Wellington Barracks just 300 yards from Buckingham Palace. Photographs taken inside the barracks show piles of litter, blocked, filthy toilets and leaky appliances, where soldiers from five of the army’s most high-profile regiments – The Coldstream, Grenadier, Irish, Scots, and Welsh Guards – live.

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The world-famous soldiers are recognised globally for their military regalia as they stand on guard outside Buckingham Palace and St James’s Palace, protecting the Royal Family as they have done since 1660.

However some soldiers have slammed their living conditions as “vile” and “worse than a prison”.

One former Coldstream Guard, who did not want to be named, told MailOnline: “It’s a disgusting way to treat soldiers who are doing a very important job. Prisoners in Britain have better living conditions than we do.

“Wellington Barracks is absolutely filthy but from the outside they look great. Tourists stand at the gates to take pictures, but they wouldn’t believe what life is like for soldiers inside.”

He also admitted that he had recently left the Coldstream Guards due to the horrific conditions he was forced to live in.

He added: “The rats would die in the bins, and we’d have to clean them out when doing block jobs in the morning. There are piles of rubbish inside the accommodation areas and the stench from the toilets is unbearable. All the problems are in the blocks where the privates live.

“I can promise you this would not happen in the officers block. I couldn’t take it anymore, it was worse than living in a filthy squat. I put up with it for several years, but nothing changed. The British public need to know how soldiers in this country are treated.”

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Soldiers from Wellington Barracks were hailed by many for the role they played as part of Operation London Bridge, the plans for Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.

Hundreds who marched in the procession, as well as the eight pallbearers from the Queen’s Company, 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, stayed at the barracks the night before the funeral in September.

Referring to living conditions, one soldier said the situation is a “joke” and claimed that senior officers would ignore them when they complained.

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Another soldier said that 32 privates live on each floor and have to share six toilets and two bathrooms between them.

Wellington Barracks was originally designed in the 1830s and is now thought to be home to around 500 soldiers from the five regiments.

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