The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment | |
---|---|
Active | 1945–Present |
Country | United Kingdom |
Branch | British Army |
Type | Horse Guards |
Role | Public duties/ceremonial |
Size | Regiment 341 personnel [2] 250 horses [3] |
Part of | Household Cavalry |
Garrison/HQ | Hyde Park Barracks, London |
Motto(s) | Honi soit qui mal y pense (Middle French for 'Shame on him who thinks evil of it') |
March | Life Guards: Quick - Millanollo Slow - Life Guards Slow March Trot Past - Keel Row Blues and Royals: Quick - Quick March of the Blues and Royals Slow - Slow March of the Blues and Royals Trot Past - Keel Row |
Commanders | |
Colonel-in-Chief | Charles III |
The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment (HCMR) is a cavalry regiment of the British Army tasked primarily with ceremonial duties. Part of the Household Division, it is classed as a regiment of guards, and carries out mounted (and some dismounted) ceremonial duties on State and Royal occasions. The HCMR is one of two operational units that form the Household Cavalry (HCav), the other being the Household Cavalry Regiment (HCR), a formation reconnaissance regiment, with front-line combat duties.
In 1945, following the end of the Second World War, the 1st and 2nd Household Cavalry Regiments were reformed as The Life Guards and Royal Horse Guards respectively. Along with these changes, each regiment provided one mounted squadron each for ceremonial duties in London. These two squadrons were grouped as the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment. [4] [5] By 1991, this regiment was based at Knightsbridge Barracks [6] (also known as Hyde Park Barracks [built between 1967 and 1970]), [7] [8] in Central London. The regiment continues to be based at the location. [9] [10] [11]
It consists of one sabre squadron from each regiment of the Household Cavalry (the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals) plus a Headquarters Squadron, and the Household Cavalry Training Wing. [3] This has been based (in various forms) at Hyde Park Barracks, Knightsbridge, since 1795. This is three-quarters of a mile from Buckingham Palace, close enough for the officers and men of the Household Cavalry to be available to respond speedily to any emergency at the Palace and also to conduct their ceremonial duties. [12]
The Household Cavalry Coach Troop is a unit of the Mounted Regiment based at Combermere Barracks in Windsor. It consists of 6 carriages with 6 horses, a head coachman, a second coachman and 3 grooms. [13]
The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment carries out regular ceremonial duties throughout the year. As the Sovereign's bodyguard and part of the Household Division, the HCMR mounts a daily guard (called King's Life Guard) at Horse Guards, which is the historical and ceremonial entrance to Buckingham Palace. This ceremony can be viewed daily by members of the public. The HCMR is responsible for the provision of the Sovereign's Escort, most commonly seen at the monarch's annual Birthday Parade (Trooping the Colour) in June each year. The escort is also seen at other occasions, including during state visits by visiting heads of state, or whenever required by the British monarch. The regiment provides a staircase party inside Buckingham Palace at state Investitures, and inside the Palace of Westminster at the annual State Opening of Parliament. They are also present at the annual Garter Ceremony at Windsor Castle. Perhaps most famously, in recent years, the men and women of the Household Cavalry have provided an escort for Queen Elizabeth II, both in London and to her final resting place at her home of Windsor Castle in September 2022. Then it provided an escort for the subsequent coronation of Charles III in May 2023. [14]
The Household Cavalry Musical Ride has been performed at agricultural shows, military tattoos since the 1880s. The display is often accompanied by the drum horses and mounted State Trumpeters of The Mounted Band of The Household Cavalry. During the display it is usually recorded music of that band. The Musical Ride demonstrates the skills that were required by cavalry in times of war. The display was a firm favourite at the Royal Tournament where it was first performed in 1882, the Musical Ride was performed at the last Royal Tournament in 1999. Since 2010, it has also performed at the British Military Tournament. [15]
The Mounted Band of The Household Cavalry was a merger in 2014 of the 35 piece Band of The Blues and Royals and the 35 piece Band of The Life Guards. They are now one band of 64 musicians but wear the uniform of both The Blues and Royals and The Life Guards. They come under RCAM, the Royal Corps of Army Music. They also provide State Trumpeters. [16]
The Republican Guard is part of the French National Gendarmerie. It is responsible for special security duties in the Paris area and for providing guards of honour at official ceremonies of the French Republic.
Trooping the Colour is a ceremonial event performed every year on Horse Guards Parade in London, United Kingdom, by regiments of Household Division, to celebrate the official birthday of the British sovereign. It is also known as the Sovereign's Birthday Parade. Similar events are held in other countries of the Commonwealth. In the UK, it is, with the State Opening of Parliament, the biggest event of the ceremonial calendar, and watched by millions on TV and on the streets of London.
The Household Cavalry (HCAV) is a corps of the Household Division that is made up of the two most senior regiments of the British Army – The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals. They have taken part in every major conflict since 1660. These regiments are divided between the Household Cavalry Regiment stationed at Wing Barracks in Wiltshire, with an armored reconnaissance role, and the ceremonial mounted unit, the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, garrisoned at Hyde Park Barracks in London. Both the HCMR and HCR are made up of elements of the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals. The Household Cavalry is part of the Household Division and is the King's official bodyguard. Although the Household Cavalry Regiment is armoured, it is not part of the Royal Armoured Corps, being assigned to the Household Division.
The Governor General's Horse Guards is an armoured cavalry regiment in the Primary Reserve of the Canadian Army. The regiment is part of 4th Canadian Division's 32 Canadian Brigade Group and is based in Toronto, Ontario. It is the most senior reserve regiment in Canada, and the only household cavalry regiment of Canada's three household units.
The King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, is a ceremonial unit of the British Army, quartered at Woolwich. It is a mounted unit and all of its soldiers are trained to care for and drive teams of six horses, each team pulling a First World War-era QF 13-pounder gun; six teams are used in the unit's Musical Drive. The Troop's duties include firing salutes on royal and state occasions, participation in parades, and the duties of the King's Life Guard at Horse Guards for one month each year. The unit provides the gun carriage and team of black horses for state funerals. The unit is most often seen providing gun salutes on state occasions in Hyde Park, and Green Park.
The King's Guard are sentry postings at Buckingham Palace and St James's Palace, organised by the British Army's Household Division. The Household Division also mounts sentry postings at Horse Guards, known as the King's Life Guard.
TheLife Guards (LG) is the most senior regiment of the British Army and part of the Household Cavalry, along with The Blues and Royals.
Horse Guards is a historic building in the City of Westminster, London, between Whitehall and Horse Guards Parade. It was built in the mid-18th century, replacing an earlier building, as a barracks and stables for the Household Cavalry. The current and previous buildings were, between the early 18th century and 1858, the main military headquarters for the British Empire. Horse Guards originally formed the entrance to the Palace of Whitehall and later St James's Palace; for that reason it is still ceremonially defended by the King's Life Guard.
The Blue Hussars, known officially as the Mounted Escort, was a ceremonial cavalry unit of the Irish Army established in 1932. It escorted the President of Ireland on state occasions, most famously to and from presidential inaugurations between 1938, when the first President assumed office, and 1948, when the Escort was disbanded.
Public duties are performed by military personnel, and usually have a ceremonial or historic significance rather than an overtly operational role.
Combermere Barracks, Windsor is a British Army installation 0.9 miles (1.4 km) from Windsor Castle.
The Hyde Park Barracks are in Knightsbridge in central London, on the southern edge of Hyde Park. They were often known as Knightsbridge Barracks and this name is still sometimes used informally. The barracks are 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) from Buckingham Palace, enabling the officers and soldiers of the Household Cavalry to be available to respond speedily to any emergency at the Palace, practice drills at Horse Guards Parade or beyond and conduct other more ceremonial duties.
London District (LONDIST) is the name given by the British Army to the area of operations encompassing the Greater London area. It was established in 1870 as Home District.
A guard of honour, honor guard or ceremonial guard, is a group of people, typically drawn from the military, appointed to perform ceremonial duties – for example, to receive or guard a head of state or other dignitaries, the fallen in war, or to attend at state ceremonials, especially funerals. In military weddings, especially those of commissioned officers, a guard, composed usually of service members of the same branch, form the sabre arch. In principle, any military unit could act as a guard of honour. In some countries, certain units are specially assigned to undertake guard of honour postings or other public duties. Republican guards, royal guards and foot guards frequently have ceremonial duties assigned to them.
The Royal Guard is an independent regiment of the Spanish Armed Forces that is dedicated to the protection of the King of Spain and members of the Spanish royal family. It currently has a strength of 1,500 troops. While the Guard participates in parades and other ceremonial events, it is a fully functional combat unit. Its members are recruited from the ranks of all three branches of the Spanish Armed Forces and receive the same combat training as regular soldiers.
The "Mariscal Domingo Nieto" Cavalry Regiment Escort is the Household Cavalry and Dragoon Guards regiment of the Peruvian Army since 1904, having been inactive from 1987 to 2012.
The Mounted Band of the Household Cavalry is a British Army band which ceremonially serves the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment (HCMR). The HCMR Band is the largest symphonic wind band in the British Army. It is one of the bands of the Royal Corps of Army Music (RCAM) and is currently based at Hyde Park Barracks and Combermere Barracks.
The 1st Cavalry Regiment "Grenadiers" is the senior cavalry regiment of the Chilean Army, which serves as the Horse Guards unit providing the ceremonial escort in parades and ceremonies to the President of Chile, the Supreme Commander of the Chilean Armed Forces. It provides the guard during flag raising ceremonies monthly in Santiago, the national capital. Together with the 3rd Cavalry Regiment "Hussars" it forms the remaining mounted components of the army in active service.
The Bands of the Household Division refer to the grouping of the seven military bands of the Household Division, which forms a part of the British Army's London District. The bands belong to five regiments of foot guards and two Household Cavalry regiments.
The Strathcona Ceremonial Mounted Troop is a ceremonial mounted cavalry unit of the Canadian Army, attached to Lord Strathcona's Horse, an armoured regiment based in Edmonton, Alberta. The is one of many Canadian ceremonial military units to have not received funding from the Government of Canada or the Canadian Forces. It is the last surviving military mounted troop in the country.