Guardia Mora



The Guardia Mora (Moorish Guard), officially the Guardia de Su Excelencia el Generalísimo (En: The Guards of His Excellency the Generalissmo) was Francisco Franco's personnel ceremonial escort. it was formed in February 1937 from personnel drawn from the Guardia Civil in Tétouan and the II Tabor of Grupo de Regulares de Tetuan No.1. Their white and red hooded cloak, based on the chilaba, was worn over the white parade uniform of Regulares officers.

The Guardia Mora was not controlled by the Spanish military but by the Casa Militar de Su Excelencia el Generalísimo y Jefe del Estado, the Military House(hold) of His Excellency the Generalissimo and Head of State.

History
The Guardia Mora has its origins in the Spanish Civil War after General Francisco Franco became commander of the Army of Africa. As the Army of Africa's commander, Francisco Franco managed to move to the other side of the Strait of Gibraltar, from where his units began to advance towards Madrid. Already in October 1936, when he was appointed head of state during an official ceremony in Burgos, Franco attended the event accompanied by an escort formed by Moroccan soldiers mounted on horseback. Thereafter, Franco began attending public events flanked by a large escort of Moroccan guards. The British historian Paul Preston has pointed out that the Guardia Mora became a symbol in itself and the best example of the new power that was being built around the figure of Franco. . After the end of the Civil War, a part of the Army of Africa was either licensed or returned to the Spanish protectorate in Morocco, but a select group of soldiers and officers remained on the peninsula, as guards protecting for the Head of State. When Franco moved his official residence to Madrid, the Guardia Mora followed him, and once established in the capital they came to have a permanent quartering in the Palace of El Pardo, official residence of the "generalissimo."

The Moorish part of the Guardia Mora was dissolved in 1956, after the independence of Morocco with the Guard itself continuing on with Spanish personnel only. Upon Franco’s death and the ascension of King Juan Carlos as the head of state, the guard regiment was integrated into the new army under the king and formed the basis of the "Regiment of the Royal Guard" (Regimiento de la Guardia Real); the modern day Guardia Real.