Wow, this thread has been going on for a long time. But never too late to correct a 10+ year old error: Joe Offer quite early on put the whole of Changing Guard [for which Milene's title was actually Buckingham Palace] on a post, but misrendered one of its best jokes as "One of the sergeants is after their socks", which makes no sense. Should be "One of the sergeants LOOKS after their socks" - just how a nursemaid would have viewed the duties of a senior NCO in the Brigade of Guards! Sorry Joe - but accuracy matters.

Another early poster reported Ann Stephens's version as being recorded in 1930s: she was actually a young 1940s-50s singer & actress, very successful at the time - she played, e.g., the vindictive troublemaking teen in the film of Josephine Tey's The Franchise Affair.

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"Buckingham Palace," recorded by 9-yr-old Ann Stephens in 1941. Music by Harold Fraser-Simson:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_Z5LpHuXVE

Petula Clark recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw2j6I0IAUU