The Life Guards - Household Cavalry London moving from Hyde Park Barracks to Horse Guards Parade

The Life Guards grew from the four troops of Horse Guards (exclusively formed of gentlemen-troopers until the transformation of the last two remaining troops into Regiments of Life Guards in 1788) raised by Charles II around the time of his restoration, plus two troops of Horse Grenadier Guards (rank and file composed of commoners), which were raised some years later.

The first troop was originally raised in Bruges in 1658 as His Majesty's Own Troop of Horse Guards. They formed part of the contingent raised by the exiled King Charles II as his contribution to the army of King Philip IV of Spain who were fighting the French and their allies the English Commonwealth under the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell in the Franco-Spanish War and the concurrent Anglo-Spanish War.

The second troop was founded in 1659 as Monck's Life Guards.
The third troop, like the first troop was formed in 1658 from exiled Royalists and was initially known as The Duke of York's Troop of Horse Guards.
The fourth troop was raised in 1661 in England.
The first troop of horse grenadier guards was formed in 1693 from the amalgamation of three troops of grenadiers.
The second troop of horse grenadier guards was raised in Scotland in 1702.
These units first saw action during the Third Anglo-Dutch War in 1672 and then at the Battle of Sedgemoor during the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685.[5]

The 3rd and 4th troops were disbanded in 1746.[4] In 1788, the remaining 1st and 2nd troops, along with the two troops of Horse Grenadier Guards, were reorganised into two regiments, the 1st and 2nd Regiments of Life Guards (from 1877, simply 1st Life Guards and 2nd Life Guards).[4] From then on (1788), rank and file were mostly formed of commoners giving rise to their pejorative nickname: "the cheesemongers",[6] while the bulk of the gentlemen-troopers were pensioned off.


Life Guards in action at Genappe during the Waterloo campaign, 1815.
From 1812 to 1814, two squadrons from each of the Life Guard regiments served in the Peninsular War.[8] In 1815 they were part of The Household Brigade at the Battle of Waterloo under Major-General Lord Edward Somerset.[5] This would be their last active service for more than 60 years, during which time they performed ceremonial and public order duties in London.[8]

In 1821, the Life Guards under the command of Captain Oakes fired upon mourners trying to redirect the funeral procession of Queen Caroline through the city of London. Two civilians were killed. Though charges of manslaughter and murder were brought, no Life Guards were prosecuted.[9]


1st Life Guards prepare for war, August 1914.
Elements of the Life Guards, along with the Royal Horse Guards, formed the Household Cavalry Composite Regiment (HCCR) for active service. The HCCR was in action in the Anglo-Egyptian War of 1882 and the Second Boer War of 1899 to 1902. The HCCR was mobilised again in 1914 at the start of the First World War, where they formed part of the British Expeditionary Force and fought in most of the major battles on the Western Front.

In 1918, the two Life Guards regiments gave up their horses and were re-roled as machine gun battalions, becoming the 1st and 2nd Battalions, Guards Machine Gun Regiment. They reverted to their previous names and roles after the end of the war.[5] In 1922, the two regiments were merged into one regiment, The Life Guards (1st and 2nd). In 1928, it was re-designated The Life Guards.

During the Second World War, again forming part of the HCCR, the Life Guards undertook armoured reconnaissance duties in Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Egypt and Italy.[8] In 1944, the Life Guards took part in the Normandy landings and the advance through France to liberate Brussels.[5] In the late 1940s, they were deployed to the Middle East, initially in Egypt, garrisoned at Kasr-el-Nil Barracks in Cairo from 1946 to 1947, and then in Palestine from 1947. In 1948, the unit left the Middle East and returned to England on leave. In 1952, it returned to Germany as part of the 11th Armoured Division.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the unit repeatedly rotated from Britain to Germany. In 1965, the unit was deployed to Asia for the first time in central Malaysia until 1968, returning to England. Like in the past decades, the unit was stationed in West Germany and England through the early to late 1970s. During its deployments, the unit always maintained a squadron in London conducting public duties. In 1971 several squadrons were deployed to Northern Ireland during The Troubles, and the regiment would see action there several more times through the mid-1970s. In March 1979, B Squadron was deployed to Cyprus as part of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force, and this would become another location that components of the unit would be deployed to.