Many congratulations on the Those Must Be The Guards. The title is from the great Sir John Moore during the retreat to Corunna in 1809, who made the remark when noticing the Foot Guards maintaining their discipline when all about had lost theirs. Would a Guards regiment be distinguishable on today’s battlefield? Northern Ireland, the Falklands, the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan are the major engagements post 1969. It’s no surprise the Household Division has been deployed in each of these theatres, but should we view the Guards as elite regiments?
All regiments regard themselves as special, with their own battle honours, and brings a great sense of pride.
The Guards are no different, however there is one aspect that sets them apart from others: their dual role. While undertaking all that is expected of the British Army, the Guards have an important and additional purpose. They are the closest soldiers to the Crown and the Sovereign: they protect The King and the Royal Family on State occasions, guard royal palaces throughout the year, and conduct guards of honour for visiting Heads of State and dignitaries. To quote HM Queen Elizabeth: State events get off to a good start ‘because visiting Heads of State are always impressed with my Troopers and Guardsmen’. This role is an important part of our national identity, a continuity that has helped to sustain the nation through both good times and bad.
During HM Queen Elizabeth’s funeral on 19th September 2022, at the committal service in St George’s Chapel, Windsor, the Guards were still serving their late Sovereign. During the service, a senior member of the Grenadier Guards handed the Camp Colour of The Queen’s Company to HM The King, who then laid it on The Queen’s coffin, where it will remain in perpetuity. In a deeply symbolic way the Guards had carried out their last solemn duty to their Sovereign and Colonel-in-Chief. This also represented an important moment of continuity, for the Crown and the Nation.
To step from an operational to a ceremonial role, at short notice, requires agility. Before HM Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, and again in May 2023 for HM King Charles’s coronation, many Guardsmen were on operations elsewhere. Soon, they were back on the drill square, preparing for two of the largest and most important State occasions in a generation. One of the most onerous tasks during the funeral was that of the bearer party, young Guardsmen who would carry The Queen’s coffin. Days’ earlier, they had been on active service in Iraq, and when the funeral was over, they were back in the desert.
This sense of duty applied not just to serving Guardsmen. A former Irish Guards officer, now a Gentlemen at Arms, was on the island of Corfu for his daughter’s wedding when he received a text: ‘You are commanded to return immediately …. to attend to your duties for Her Late Majesty’s Funeral…’ not a message that he expected while making his ‘father of the bride’ speech. ‘We raised our glasses to the Bride and Groom, closely followed by The Late Queen and His Majesty’ and the following morning he was on his way home to take up his duties, honouring The Queen.
Of all the regiments, is there one that exhibits a reputation as a more aggressive regiment?
A subjective question that would raise a laugh among Guardsmen! Regiments have their own national and cultural characteristics that an outsider might find difficult to spot, but Guardsmen know how to fight, and if necessary can be just as aggressive as they need to be. Their ethos is also underpinned by discipline, a reflection of the Guards’ dual role. One of the themes of our book is to emphasise the quality of restraint, a byword for the Guards. Aggression is often required on the battlefield, but there are many occasions when restraint is also needed. It is the mark of a well-trained and led regiment to know the difference. Take two examples:
1972 was the bloodiest year of the Northern Ireland Troubles, characterised by ‘Bloody Sunday’. This terrible event, exacerbated by the decision to impose internment without trial, dashed any chance of an early end to the Troubles. The Army was no longer on the front foot, and the Provisional IRA grasped the opportunity to regroup and retrain: the Army was now their target. But this was not a conventional war; it required strong leadership, discipline, and restraint. 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards had served in West Belfast in 1970, a relatively easy tour during which they were given 17,000 cups of tea by the locals (both Catholic and Protestant) and did not fire a single round of ammunition or riot gas. They were back in 1972, facing rocket attacks, sniper fire, and well-planned ambushes. During that tour they lost five Guardsmen to terrorist attacks. The Coldstream remained steady under fire, holding the line with commendable restraint, but more than capable of being tough when necessary.
In February 1991, Major James Hewitt, commanding A Squadron The Life Guards, was leading the 4th Armoured Brigade advance in the ground offensive to liberate Kuwait. As the squadron moved across the featureless desert in low visibility, a column of tanks, thought to be Iraqi T-62s, appeared some 2,700 metres to their front. The contact was reported up the chain of command, and quickly came the message that these were indeed the enemy. But something did not seem right and Hewitt sought confirmation before ordering his 14 Challenger tanks to open up with their 120 mm guns. The answer came back swiftly: ‘the tanks are enemy – engage them now and push on’. Hewitt was still not happy, and neither were his tank commanders. Could these really be Iraqi tanks on the move? Hewitt went back again to seek confirmation from the brigade headquarters. The answer remained the same, and the demands for immediate action became even more direct. Hewitt was under huge pressure and yet, displaying considerable moral courage, decided to do nothing. Then came a feverish scream over the airwaves. These were not enemy tanks after all – they were B Squadron, 14th /20th Hussars. Had James Hewitt merely followed orders that day, the outcome would have been shocking. 14 Challenger tanks engaging 14 Challenger tanks, a horrifying thought.
Has the reduction in the size of the regiments and their RHQs resulted in a difficulty recruiting officers and guardsmen, or is this a problem affecting other parts of the Army?
Battalions have not changed their size significantly over the years; there are just fewer than in 1969. Recruitment is always a challenge, reliant upon many variable factors, not just the attraction of soldiering. In this respect, the Guards are fortunate, because they have a high profile, not just in the Army, but beyond, in the nation and around the world. To be a Guardsman is the aspiration of many, both young men and women, and recruiting remains good.
It’s interesting to understand the experience of spouses of Guardsmen – are there challenges to families that are more acute with the Guards, for example the social element?
Spouses and families are an immensely important part of every military unit, and the challenges for service families across the Army are much the same, and no different in the Guards.
Much has changed. Families no longer ‘follow the flag’ as they used to do; the British Army is now an expeditionary one, based at home. This creates different challenges when units go on overseas deployments while the families stay at home. The Guards are a group of tightly-knit regiments who look after their families, and the ‘social element’ is a misnomer. The Guards, both soldiers and their families, reflect the broad society from which they are derived.
Is there an element of snobbery that remains in the Guards, that is a hangover from the days when officers from aristocratic or upper-class backgrounds served?
This is not a characteristic that defines the Guards – far from it. The ‘aristocratic and upper-class’ label for today’s Guards officers is an anachronism; it really does not exist and hasn’t for many years.
There is a clip that often goes viral on social media that shows each Guards regiment represented, which shows Pythonesque drill unique to each. Does this continue today?
This clip is amusing and those taking part would be the first to laugh when watching it now. But there is something more interesting going on here. The Guards Sergeants, from the five regiments of Foot Guards, are proudly demonstrating, with flair and panache, that their regiment is different to the next one. The Grenadiers, for example, never answer a question with a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’, while the Scots Guards take one pace forward and salute. There is nothing overtly serious or overbearing about this; it is a ritual that each Guardsman takes pleasure and pride in getting right. And that’s the same when they are on guard outside Buckingham Palace or lining the street on a State occasion. Onlookers may laugh at them, while the Guardsmen quietly get on with what they are required to do: not an easy task.
Successive governments have cut the Army to the bone, despite geopolitical events, and the Army has been ordered to reduce to 73,000 men by 2025. Where do you see the Guards in ten years’ time?
The Guards are not complacent, and have taken their fair share of cuts over the years. They have been in existence for many centuries and fully hope and expect to be still around, serving King and Country, in ten years’ time and beyond.
What is more difficult to predict is what they will be doing in 2034, but given their record, they have a proven ability to adapt to whatever that might be. In 1941, with no experience of armoured soldiering, the Foot Guards became tank commanders, gunners, and drivers. In the post-war period, they took on peacekeeping roles around the world as Britain retreated from the days of empire. In 1982, in the Falklands, Guardsmen fought the kind of hard infantry war that their forefathers would have remembered, winning one Victoria Cross. Another VC was won in 2012 in tough fighting in Afghanistan. More recently, Guardsmen conducted Covid-19 tests (not something any soldier would sign up for), and are now helping to train soldiers of the Ukrainian Army. So who knows what they will be doing in ten years’ time.
Paul de Zulueta and Simon Doughty are the authors of Those Must Be the Guards: The Household Division in Peace and War, 1969-2023 published by Osprey.
Aspects of History Issue 20 is out now.isy Dunn. Daisy Dunn. Daisy Dunn. Daisy Dunn.
