Cap badge of the Royal Horse Guards, 1914-1936.
NAM. 1963-12-105Introduction
The regiment's origins lie in the Third English Civil War. On 22 July 1650 Oliver Cromwell invaded Scotland to defeat Charles, Prince of Wales and his Scottish Covenanter allies. Less than a month later, Cromwell ordered Sir Arthur Haselrig to raise a regiment of cuirassiers or heavy cavalry in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, to be dressed in dark blue uniforms.
This regiment survived Charles’s restoration in 1660, with new Royalist officers, and became the Earl of Oxford’s Regiment. This makes them the only Parliamentary cavalry unit still in the British Army, but puts them second in precedence to the Life Guards, who were founded as a Royalist unit in 1658.
A trooper of the Royal Horse Guards in stable dress, 1915.
NAM. 1952-04-148It saw service throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, fighting at Sedgemoor and the Boyne. It was commanded by the Marquis of Granby during the Seven Years War and became a favourite regiment of King George III.
George's son the Prince Regent promoted the unit to household cavalry status in 1813, late in the Napoleonic Wars. At the same time the Duke of Wellington was made its colonel and it served under him at Vitoria later in 1813 as well as at Waterloo in 1815. One of the regiment’s officers later in the 19th century was Frederick Gustavus Burnaby, 6 foot 4 inches tall and said to have once carried a pony under his arm.
Though now best known for its ceremonial duties on Horse Guards in London, the Blues has also frequently fought as a front-line unit. During the final year of the First World War it served as the 3rd Battalion of the Guards Machine Gun Regiment. It also provided personnel to the Household Cavalry Composite Regiment at times of high demand for cavalry, such as the Sudan War, the Boer War and the first four months of the First World War.
The composite regiment was revived in an armoured role for the Second World War, and the Blues served in it in both the Middle East and Normandy, capturing Cuxhaven in 1945 before going on to post-war garrison duties in Germany and Cyprus. In 1969 the regiment was amalgamated with the Royal Dragoons (1st Dragoons) to form the Blues and Royals.
Key facts
Motto:
- 'Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense ' (meaning 'Shame on Him Who Thinks This Evil')
Nicknames:
- The Oxford Blues
- The Blues
- The Blue Guards
- The Tin Bellies (after their metal breastplates)
Titles to date:
- The Regiment of Cuirassiers
- The Royal Regiment
- The Royal Regiment of Horse, or Horse Guards
- Royal Horse Guards Blue
- Royal Regiment of Horse Guards
- Royal Horse Guards (The Blues)
- 3rd Battalion, Guards Machine Gun Regiment
- The Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons)
- Household Cavalry Regiment
- Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment
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