GRENADIER GUARDS

The 'Grenadier Guards' is the most senior regiment of the Guards Division of the British Army, and, as such, is the most senior regiment of infantry. It is not, however, the most senior regiment of the Army, this position being attributed to the Life Guards. The Coldstream Guards were organized before the Grenadier Guards, but their regiment is reckoned after the Grenadiers in seniority as they sided with Lord Cromwell during the civil war.
The grouping of buttons on the tunic is a common way to distinguish between the regiments of Foot Guards. Grenadier Guards' buttons are equally spaced and embossed with the Royal Cypher reversed and interlaced surrounded by the Royal Garter bearing Honi soit qui mal y pense. Their Motto (Old French: shame upon him who thinks evil of it), Their “Buff Belt” brass clasped also carry the Royal Cypher, Modern Grenadier Guardsmen wear a cap badge of a "grenade fired proper" With 17 flames. This cap badge is cleaned daily as it is made from brass and a tarnished grenade is frowned upon by all in the regiment.

Contents

History

Role

Battle honours

Training

Colonels-in-Chief

Marches

Football

Order of Precedence

Alliances

Footnotes

References

See also

External links

History

The Grenadier Guards celebrated its 350th anniversary in 2006.
In 1656, Lord Wentworth's Regiment was formed in Bruges, in the Spanish Netherlands, currently Belgium, forming a portion of exiled King Charles II's bodyguard. A few years later, a similar regiment known as John Russell's Regiment of Guards was formed. In 1665, these two regiments were combined to form the '1st Regiment of Foot Guards'. As a result of their heroic actions in fighting off the French grenadiers at Waterloo, the 1st Guards were renamed by Royal Proclamation as the '1st or Grenadier Regiment of Foot Guards', thus becoming the only regiment in the British Army to be named for its actions in battle. The nickname for the 2nd Battalion is the 'Models' and for the third battalion the 'Ribbs'.
The Grenadier Guards have served 10 Kings and 3 Queens, including currently Queen Elizabeth II.

Role

The Grenadier Guards serves as a light infantry battalion - following the reforms of 2004, this will be fixed. The regiment will alternate with the Welsh Guards in the public duties role. In recent years the 1st Battalion has deployed as part of Operation TELIC in Iraq, and Op Herrick in Afghanistan.

Battle honours

The 1st Foot Guards have received 79 battle honours, including:

★ various actions near the Strait of Gibraltar

★ the War of the Spanish Succession, including Oudenarde

★ the War of the Austrian Succession

★ the Peninsular War

★ the Napoleonic Wars, including Waterloo

★ the Crimean War

★ the Urabi Revolt

★ the Opium Wars

★ the Sudan Campaign

★ the Boer Wars

★ World War I and World War II (North Africa, Italy, Northwest Europe)

★ the Persian Gulf War
In 1994, under the ''Options for Change'' reforms, the Grenadier Guards was reduced to a single battalion. The 2nd Battalion was put into 'suspended animation', and its colours passed for safekeeping to a newly formed independent Company, which was named "The Nijmegen Company". (The Inkerman Company, one of the three rifle companies that form the 1st Battalion, maintains the customs and traditions of the 3rd Battalion that went into 'suspended animation' back in 1962).

Training

Recruits to the Grenadier Guards go through a 26-week training course at the Infantry Training Centre. This is 2 weeks more than the training for regular line regiments of the British Army; the extra training, carried out throughout the course, is devoted to drill and ceremonies.
Following graduation from the ITC, guardsmen are assigned to Nijmegen Company for additional training and orientation before being posted to the 1st Battalion.

Colonels-in-Chief

The Grenadier Guards' various colonels-in-chief have generally been the British monarchs, including Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, George VI, and Elizabeth II.
Many prestigious military officers have been colonels of this regiment, including:

★ the Duke of Marlborough

★ the Duke of Cumberland

★ the Lord Ligonier

★ the Duke of Wellington

★ the Prince Consort

★ the Duke of Cambridge

★ the Duke of Edinburgh
The Colonel-in-Chief is always the reigning Sovereign. This applies to all Regiments of the Household Division.

Marches

The Regimental Slow March is the march ''Scipio'', from the opera of the same name by George Frideric Handel, inspired by the exploits of the Roman General Scipio Africanus. The first performance of ''Scipio'' was in 1726. Handel actually composed the eponymous slow march for the First Guards, presenting it to the regiment before he added it to the score of the opera.^[1] The Quick March is ''The British Grenadiers''.

Football

Both the 2nd Grenadier Guards F.C. and the 3rd Grenadier Guards F.C. enjoyed considerable success in the London League, playing against the likes of West Ham United.

Order of Precedence

Alliances

★ - The Canadian Grenadier Guards

★ - 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment

★ - HMS ''Illustrious''

Footnotes

1. The British Grenadiers: Three Hundred & Fifty Years of the First Regiment of Foot Guards 1656-2006, , Henry, Hanning, Pen and Sword Books Ltd, London, 2006, ISBN 1-84415-385-1

References

★ The British Grenadiers: Three Hundred & Fifty Years of the First Regiment of Foot Guards 1656-2006, , Henry, Hanning, Pen and Sword Books Ltd, London, 2006, ISBN 1-84415-385-1

See also

★ George Higginson

★ Grenadier Guards Band

★ Military history of the United Kingdom

★ British Army

★ Canadian Grenadier Guards

External links

★ The Guards MuseumContaining the history of the five regiments of Foot Guards, Wellingon Barracks, London.

★ British Army: Grenadier Guards

★ The Grenadier Guards

★ Grenadier Guards Association (East Kent Branch)

★ Grenadier Forums - Home of the First or Grenadier Regiment of Foot Guards

★ Grenadier Guards Association (Nottinghamshire Branch)

★ Melody and words of "The British Grenadiers" (the Regimental Quick March)

★ The official site of the Grenadier Guards Band.