If there's one thing more irritating than waiting for a video to buffer on YouTube, we have yet to come across it.

And it looks like the folk at YouTube, which happens to be owned by Google, are all too aware of this.

In a bid to distract users from their own dodgy internet connection, YouTube have changed the standard 'loading' icon from a circle to a castle with a jaunty red flag.

According to Android Police, the icon has been around for a while, but is making more regular appearances as the weeks go by.

Unfortunately the castle has absolutely no bearing on the video's loading time, but was designed to entertain the viewer as they cursed their internet provider and demanded a gin from their nearest and dearest.

Oh, and if you happen to be, you know, into castles, cherish its appearance because it only appears when the video first loads, and not throughout if it begins to buffer halfway through.

And now you know…