Royal Horse Guards

The Royal Horse Guards (RHG) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry.

Founded August 1650 in Newcastle upon Tyne by Sir Arthur Haselrig on the orders of Oliver Cromwell as the Regiment of Cuirassiers, the regiment became the Earl of Oxford's Regiment during the reign of King Charles II. As the regiment's uniform was blue in colour at the time, it was nicknamed "the Oxford Blues", from which was derived the nickname the "Blues." In 1750 the regiment became the Royal Horse Guards Blue and eventually, in 1877, the Royal Horse Guards (The Blues).

The regiment served in the French Revolutionary Wars and in the Peninsular War. Two squadrons fought, with distinction, in the Household Brigade at the Battle of Waterloo.

In 1918, the regiment served as the 3rd Battalion, Guards Machine Gun Regiment. During the Second World War the regiment was part of the Household Cavalry Composite Regiment.

The RHG was amalgamated with the Royal Dragoons (1st Dragoons) to form the Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons) in 1969.

Battle honours

 * Dettingen, Warburg, Beaumont, Willems, Peninsula, Waterloo, Tel-el-Kebir, Egypt 1882, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, South Africa 1899-1900


 * The Great War: Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Messines 1914, Armentières 1914, Ypres 1914 '15 '17, Langemarck 1914, Gheluvelt, Nonne Bosschen, St Julien, Frezenberg, Loos, Arras 1917, Scarpe 1917, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Hindenburg Line, Cambrai 1918, Sambre, France and Flanders 1914-18


 * The Second World War: Mont Pinçon, Souleuvre, Noireau Crossing, Amiens 1944, Brussels, Neerpelt, Nederrijn, Nijmegen, Lingen, Bentheim, North-West Europe 1944-45, Baghdad 1941, Iraq 1941, Palmyra, Syria 1941, El Alamein, North Africa 1942-43, Arezzo, Advance to Florence, Gothic Line, Italy 1944

Colonels —with other names for the regiment

 * 1650 - 1661 Sir Arthur Haselrig —Haselrig's Regiment of Cuirassiers
 * 1661 - 1688 Aubrey, Earl of Oxford —de Vere's or Earl of Oxford's Regiment
 * 1688 - 1688 James, Duke of Berwick —FitzJames's or Duke of Berwick's Regiment
 * 1688 - 1688 James, Earl of Arran —Hamilton's or Earl of Arran's Regiment
 * 1688 - 1703 Aubrey, Earl of Oxford —de Vere's or Earl of Oxford's Regiment
 * 1703 - 1712 George, Duke of Northumberland — FitzRoy's or Duke of Northumberland's Regiment
 * 1712 - 1712 Richard, Earl Rivers —Savage's or Earl Rivers' Regiment
 * 1712 - 1715 Charles, Earl of Peterborough —Mordaunt's or Earl of Peterborough's Regiment
 * 1715 - 1717 John, Duke of Argyll —Campbell's or Duke of Argyll's Regiment
 * 1717 - 1735 Charles, Marquis of Winchester —Powlett's or Marquis of Winchester's Regiment
 * 1735 - 1740 John, Duke of Argyll —Campbell's or Duke of Argyll's Regiment
 * 1740 - 1742 Algernon, Earl of Hertford —Seymour's or Earl of Hertford's Regiment
 * 1742 - 1742 John, Duke of Argyll —Campbell's or Duke of Argyll's Regiment
 * 1742 - 1750 Algernon, Duke of Somerset —Seymour's or Earl of Hertford's or Duke of Somerset's Regiment


 * from 1750 Royal Horse Guards Blue

On 1 July 1751 a royal warrant provided that in future regiments would not be known by their colonels' names, but by their "number or rank".


 * 1750 - 1753 Charles, Duke of Richmond —Lennox's or Richmond's Regiment
 * 1753 - 1758 Sir John Ligonier
 * 1758 - 1770 John, Marquess of Granby
 * 1770 - 1795 Henry Seymour Conway
 * 1795 - 1806 Charles, Duke of Richmond
 * 1806 - 1813 Hugh, Duke of Northumberland
 * 1813 - The Duke of Wellington


 * from 1877 Royal Horse Guards (The Blues)


 * from 1969 Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons) amalgamated with the Royal Dragoons