A King's Guard has left a tourist terrified after she got too close, leading him to scream in her face that she had to keep away.

If you head down to London and pay either Buckingham Palace or St James's Palace a visit then you'll come across the King's Guards.

They're usually formed from one of the five regiments of foot guards - the Irish Guards, Welsh Guards, Scots Guards, Coldstream Guards and Grenadier Guards - though for a few weeks each year the Royal Air Force Regiment takes on this responsibility.

At times other regiments have served in this post, including ones from around the Commonwealth.

They've become so iconic that they're practically a tourist attraction in their own right, but that has led to a whole host of problems from tourists getting too close.

The soldiers are in posts where huge numbers of visitors pass by and many want a picture with one of them or try and get them to break their composure in a variety of ways.

TikTok/@thekingsguardsofficial

They don't just stand in place all day either and tourists are warned not to get in their way as the King's Guards have right of way and are allowed to walk right through anyone blocking them.

King's Guards have a protocol to follow if a member of the public does get too close. For instance, if they're standing still then they'll stand at attention by 'stamping' and shout for the person to stand back.

If someone's in their way they'll order them to 'make way for the King's Guard' and expect the order to be followed, otherwise they'll just keep on going right through whoever is in their way.

Unfortunately, a lot of tourists don't follow the rules on keeping their distance and often learn the hard way that the King's Guards are not toy soldiers who stand around for people's amusement.

One woman recently got the shock of her life when she got too close to a King's Guard, leading him to scream in her face to move away.

In a video posted to TikTok, the woman is seen getting alongside a King's Guard to pose for a photo and leaning in close, only for him to stamp and shout: "Do not touch the King's Life Guard!"

TikTok/@thekingsguardsofficial

She moves away, likely shocked at suddenly being shouted at, and the soldier returns his attention to his post.

Whenever this happens, and it happens quite a lot, there's always a bit of a debate over whether it's the right thing to do or not.

Someone wondered 'why does he have to yell like that' and said the King's Guard should 'relax', while another said there was 'no need to shout his lungs out like that' and said he should 'tell her politely'.

A third chipped in to say 'at least be polite jeez', but lots more pointed out that the soldier's behaviour shouldn't come as much of a surprise and his reaction wasn't very rude at all.

They said the King's Guards were 'not a tourist attraction' and it was made pretty clear that you were 'not allowed to touch them'.

Others lamented that some visitors seemed to think they were 'there for a bit of decoration' and urged people to 'respect the Guards'.