Guards, in the United Kingdom, are the regiments of the British Army that form the Household Division. They are the personal bodyguards of the monarch. The Household Division consists of the Household Cavalry and the Guards Division. The Guards regiments were originally raised to protect King Charles II after his restoration to the throne in 1660. Today, their peacetime duties are mainly ceremonial. But they are fully trained for modern warfare and take their turn at overseas duties.
The Household Cavalry
consists of two regiments, the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals. The gentlemen who had formed Charles II’s bodyguard while he was in exile were formed into a horse troop after the Restoration. In 1788, this regiment was reorganized as the 1st and 2nd Life Guards. In 1922, the two regiments were united.
The Royal Horse Guards was formed from one of the Parliamentary regiments of the English Civil War. Most of the Parliamentary forces were disbanded in 1661. But Colonel Unton Crook’s regiment was retained, and it became the Royal Regiment of Horse. Another regiment raised in 1661 was the Tangier Horse, later known as the Royal Dragoons. In 1969, the Royal Horse Guards and the Royal Dragoons amalgamated to form the Blues and Royals.
The Life Guards’ full-dress uniform is red, faced with blue, with white plumes. The Blues and Royals’ full-dress uniform is blue, faced with red, with red plumes. Officers’ uniforms are trimmed with gold lace in the pattern of oak leaves, commemorating the day when Charles II hid in an oak tree while escaping from Oliver Cromwell’s soldiers.
The musicians and trumpeters of the Household Cavalry wear gold-laced coats and velvet caps. This dress is a royal uniform, not a military one. The band members of the two regiments dress alike. But they can be distinguished by the way the manes of their horses are brushed—to the offside (right) for the Life Guards and to the nearside (left) for the Blues and Royals.
The Household Cavalry provides mounted sentries who guard the Horse Guards building in Whitehall. The ceremony of changing the guard takes place there every morning. The two regiments also provide mounted escorts for state processions.
The Guards Division
consists of five regiments of foot guards. The Grenadier Guards was formed from the foot soldiers who accompanied Charles II in his exile. At the Restoration, the regiment became known as the 1st Foot Guards. At the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, the regiment defeated the grenadiers of Napoleon’s Old Guard and received the official title of Grenadier Guards as an honor. Napoleon’s grenadiers had taken this name from the men who threw grenades.
The Coldstream Guards regiment was formed from a Parliamentary regiment that General George Monk raised in 1650. It was named after the little town of Coldstream, on the River Tweed in Borders Region, where the regiment crossed from Scotland to England in 1660. The Scots Guards regiment was raised in 1642, in Scotland. The Irish Guards regiment was raised in 1900, during the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. An earlier regiment of Irish Guards left Britain after King James II fled the country in 1688. The Welsh Guards regiment was formed in 1915.
The uniform of the Guards Division is scarlet and blue, and is based on the royal livery (household uniform) of Charles II’s time. The main differences between the uniforms of the regiments are the buttons on the tunics and the plumes in the bearskins (fur caps). Grenadier Guards have their buttons spaced at regular intervals, and wear white plumes on the left of their bearskins. Coldstream Guards have their buttons grouped in pairs, and wear red plumes on the right of their bearskins. Scots Guards have buttons grouped in threes, and their bearskins have no plumes. Irish Guards have their buttons grouped in fours, and wear blue plumes on the right of their bearskins. Welsh Guards have their buttons grouped in fives, and wear white and green plumes on the left of their bearskins.
The Guards Division carries out a number of ceremonial duties. These duties include serving as guards at Buckingham Palace in London, Windsor Castle in Berkshire, and other places of royal residence.
See also Army (The British Army) .
