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Royal Horse Guards (United Kingdom)

Introduction
Guidon of Honour of the Royal Horse Guards (The Blues) - 1832

Introduction

Introduction of The Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons)

Colonel Aubrey de Vere stellte as Earl of Oxford raised a 2nd royal cavalry regiment. It consisted of eight troops in 1660, those of the King, the colonel, the major and of five captains. In 1685 one more troop was added and the major was upgraded to a lieutenant colonel. In 1733 the regiment was reorganised. Since then it was subdivided into three squadrons. In 1794 a 4th squadron was raised. The regiment was known at least by four different names, before it was called Royal Horse Guards (The Blues), due to its unusual blue uniforms. The regiment was amalgamated with The Royal Dragoons (1st Dragoons), which had not been part of the Household Division before, on 29 March 1969, and it was renamed to Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons (The Blues and Royals).
The latter was raised in London as (The) Tangier (Regiment of) Horse in 1661. After Tangier had been ceded in 1683 it was reorganised as an English regiment. Initially it was named The King s Own Royal Regiment of Dragoons, but already in 1690 renamed to The Royal Regiment of Dragoons. As numbering of cavalry regiments became common practise in 1751, it was again renamed to 1st (Royal) Dragoons.

It should be mentioned that the predecessors of both regiments had not been part of the Household Division before 1827.
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 29 January 2025

Guidon of Honour of the Royal Horse Guards (The Blues) - 1832

image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 29 January 2025

In addition to their standards, the Royal Horse Guards had a guidon granted by King William IV and presented to the regiment on 13 August 1832. It is now in the Household Cavalry Museum. It is made of crimson damask, richly-embroidered. In the centre, it bears the royal cypher W R , reversed and interlaced in gold, with a small IV beneath in the middle and the battle honours Peninsula above and Waterloo below. Four more battle honours are displayed, two on each side and surroundinging the cypher: Dettingen above hoist, Minden above fly, Warbourg (also referred to as Warburg ), below hoist and Cateau (also referred to as Beaumont ) below fly. These honours are embroidered in golden roman seriphed capitals on blue scrolls fimbriated golden. This complex is surmounted by a crown, often called an Albert Crown, because it was part of the Greater Arms, borne by Prince Albert of Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, the Prince Consort. This type of crown was introduced by The Prince of Wales, later King George IV, in the early 19th century. In the 1st and 4th corners of the guidon is a crowned rose with leaves, representing England, in the 2nd a crowned Union Badge, i.e. a rose, a thistle and a shamrock growing from the same stem, representing the Union of England, Scotland and Ireland. The latter became part of the Union in 1801. Finally in the 3rd corner a crowned thistle with leaves. Those four crowns are in the form of St Edward's Crown, and the devices are golden. In base, there is the golden regimental monogram RHG . Fringes, cords, and tassels are golden. The finial of the lance is a silver-gilt representation of St George Slaying the Dragon. It bears the hall-mark London 1832.

The Regiment applied to have the guidon renewed in 1880. However, the Commander-in-Chief ruled that it should be considered as the personal gift of King William IV and that, as such, it could not be maintained at public expense. It turned out unable to find any record of its manufacture.
Probably the guidon of The Blues has not been carried on a mounted parade since 1887. It was carried for the last time dismounted in the presence of King George V and the German Emperor Wilhelm II on occasion of the unveiling of the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace in 1911.

Source: Nicolas Payan Dawnay: The Standards, Guidons and Colours of the Household Division 1660 1973 , London 1975, pp.11,25,44-45,63-73
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 29 January 2025