Grenadier Guards

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Grenadier Guards

Cap Badge of the Grenadier Guards
Active 1656-present
Country United Kingdom
Branch Army
Type Foot Guards
Role 1st Battalion - Light Role
Nijmegen Company - Public Duties
Size One battalion
One company
Part of Guards Division
Garrison/HQ RHQ - London
1st Battalion - Aldershot
Nijmegen Company - London
Nickname The Bill Browns
Motto Honi soit qui mal y pense (Shame on him who thinks evil of it) (French)
March Quick: The British Grenadiers
Slow: Scipio
Engagements Waterloo
Commanders
Colonel in Chief HM The Queen
Colonel of
the Regiment		 HRH The Duke of Edinburgh KG, KT, GBE
Insignia
Tactical Recognition Flash
Plume White
Left side of Bearskin cap
Abbreviation GREN GDS

The Grenadier Guards (GREN GDS) 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 was formed before the Grenadier Guards, but that regiment is ranked after the Grenadiers in seniority as it was a regiment of the New Model Army.

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 (Evil be to him who evil thinks ). 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 to be cleaned twice a day once in the morning and once in the afternoon, as it is made from brass and a tarnished grenade is frowned upon by all in the regiment.

Contents

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Battle honours

Illustration, 1889
Illustration, 1889

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

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).

[edit] Training

Recruits to the Grenadier Guards go through a 28-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.

[edit] Colonels-in-Chief

Sentry of the Grenadier Guards outside St James's Palace
Sentry of the Grenadier Guards outside St James's Palace

The Grenadier Guards' various colonels-in-chief have generally been the British monarchs, including Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, George VI, and currently Elizabeth II.

Many prestigious military officers have been colonels of this regiment, including:

The Colonel-in-Chief is always the reigning Sovereign. This applies to all regiments of the Household Division. Other Sovereigns have served in the regiment. Mutesa II of Buganda was commissioned as a captain in the Grenadier Guards.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Order of Precedence

Preceded by:
First in Order of
Precedence of the Infantry		 Infantry Order of Precedence Succeeded by:
Coldstream Guards

[edit] Cadet Force

The 78th Unit Grenadier Guards Cadet Force meets every Monday and Thursday at the Lorship Lane Cadet Centre near the Horniman Museum.

[edit] Alliances

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Hanning, Henry (2006). The British Grenadiers: Three Hundred & Fifty Years of the First Regiment of Foot Guards 1656-2006. page 80: Pen and Sword Books Ltd, London. ISBN 1-84415-385-1. 

[edit] References

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

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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