Horse guards

The Horse Guards are a formation of the British Armée. They ensure the protection of the Queen and the royal buildings. The building of Horse Guards, located on Whitehall at two steps of the residence of the Prime Minister is the general headquarter of the guard of the queen and he plays the part of official entry of the royal palace of Buckingham.

The Members of the Horse Guards who constitute the regiments of Cavalerie of the Royal House (Household Cavalry regiments) belong to the two older regiments of the British army:

the Royal Blues and, in blue tunic;
the Life Guard, in red tunic.

The horses of the two regiments of Members of the Horse Guards are black except those of the trumpets which are gray.

Missions

The Members of the Horse Guards are especially known for their protocolar role. Since 1660, they accompany with Cheval the sovereign British at the time of the official ceremonies. Two regiments forming L ` Royal Escort of Cavalry of the Royal House ( Sovereign' S Escort off the Household cavalry ).

They are also charged to assemble the guard in front of the official entry of the palates Saint James and Buckingham like front the building of Horse Guards. This last in the beginning was located at the doors of the Palais of Whitehall, residence of the monarchs to his fire in 1698. If the kings moved, the Members of the Horse Guards preserved at it their districts and each day, at 11 o'clock in the morning, the changing of the Guard consists with the change of regiment of faction with Whitehall.

The two regiments also have an operational role in the army. They provide detachments of escort to constitute the assembled regiment (Cavalry Mounted Regiment) of the Members of the Horse Guards. The unit constitutes a manpower of 350 men. Once, their tasks of ceremonies carried out, the Members of the Horse Guards regain their respective regiments, in the tanks and divisions armor-plated

Formation

The men selected to be useful in the Members of the Horse Guards are trained for 4 months with the practices of horsemanship before taking part in the parades.

To enter Household Calvalry, it is necessary to carry out its military classes with the company of the guards with Pirbright then those which will become assembled guards follow 8 weeks of course of horsemanship and hippology in Windsor whereas the others can also integrate one of the two regiments of Household Cavalry after 6 weeks of formation into Bovington (armor-plated or artillery).

In Windsor, the futures Horse Guards learn how to deal with their horse and to establish a relation between respect and the animal with which they will work. They learn also the equestrian disciplines, the military horse operations (ravelled).

Four weeks additional in great behavior of Members of the Horse Guards finish the formation. After the examination of passage, it guard is affected with the one of the two regiments, Life Guards or Royal and Blues and joined the barracks located in edge of Hyde Park on Knightsbridge (Hyde Park Barracks).

It is also possible to become Horse-Guard after a first operational service in the regiments.

The Life Guards

The regiment of Life Guards is the oldest regiment of the British army. The uniform comprises a red tunic, a white plumet. The horses carry chabraque (carpet of saddle) white for the soldiers, black for the officers.

History

The regiment was created in 1660 starting from a group of 80 royalists which had followed the king Charles II in exile after the defeat of Worcester in 1652. They took part in several wars in Great Britain or continental Europe (War of succession of Austria 1742-1746). They took the name of Life Guards in 1788 and took part in the Napoleonean wars (War of Spain, Campagne of 1814, Bataille of Waterloo on June 18th, 1815). During the 19th century, they intervened in Africa (Egypt, Sudan, Guerre of Boers in South Africa). At the time of the First World War, they took share with the operations carried out in the Flandres and in France (Bataille of the Marne). They also took part in the Second world war, unloading in Normandy in June 1944 and crossing France to release Brussels. After the war, they took part in the holding actions of the order around the Suez Canal, in Southeast Asia, in Northern Ireland like to Cyprus under the aegis of UNO. The regiment took part in the Guerre of the Gulf in 1990.

In 1991, the regiment was tiny room to two squadrons of recognition based with Windsor and commun runs with the Blues and Royal and a squadron of ceremony based with London. It took part in the operations in Bosnia-Herzégovine under the aegis of UNO.

The Blues and Royals

The Blues and Royals were created in 1969 starting from the regiment “The Royal Horse Guards” called the blue ones (The Blues) and of the regiment of the royal Dragons (The Royal Dragoons says “The Royals” or first Dragons). The currency of the regiment: “Honni is which badly thinks of it” (in French) was the currency of Royal Horse Guards.

The Anniversaire date of the regiment is the June 18th in memory of the battle of Waterloo, it established its districts with in the building of Horse Guards in Whitehall, London. The uniform is composed of a blue tunic and of a red plumet, the chabraque one is black for all the horses.

The regiment of Royal Horse Guards (The Blues)

The first references to a regiment of Horse Guards come from the time of Cromwell, in the middle of the 17th century. In 1661, it took the name of Royal Regiment with horse (Royal Regiment off Horse) then in 1689, the denomination of Royal Regiment of Horse Guards (Royal Regiment off Horse Guards). The regiment took part in many wars in continental Europe (War of succession of Austria, seven year old Guerre). It became “Cavalry of the Royal House” in 1813 pennies the reign of George III whereas the duke of Wellington was the colonel.

The regiment took share with the battle of Waterloo in 1815, the First World War in Flandres and at the Second world war in the Middle East, in Normandy, then in Germany.

The regiment of Royal Dragoons (1st Dragoons)

This regiment was created in 1661 by the king Charles II after the fall of the mode of Cromwell. Based with Tangier on the African coasts, under the name of Troop with horse of Tangier (Tangier Troop off Horse), it regained London in 1683 and took the name of Royal Regiment of Dragon in 1690 (The Royal Regiment off Dragoons). The regiment took share with many wars or interventions abroad:

War of succession of Austria (1740-1748)
War of Spain (1808-1814)
Waterloo (1815)
Crimean War (1854-1855)
War of Boers in South Africa (1899-1902)
First World War (1914-1918) (Flandres)
Second world war (1939-1945) (War of the desert in 1941, battles of El Alamein, Débarquement in Normandy in 1944, Denmark)

Since fusion

Since 1969, the regiment was used for Windsor, in Northern Ireland, in Germany, in Cyprus and at the time of the Guerre of the Falklands (Falklands) in 1982.

The regiment has two squadrons with Windsor and a squadron of ceremony in London. Moreover, other squadrons are engaged under the aegis of UNO in Bosnia and in Kosovo.

External bonds

Guards of the traditions

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