The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment

Officer The Blues and Royals Squadron Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment Rory Lewis Photographer (London Military Portraiture 2016)

The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment are probably the most famous of the mounted soldiers, symbolic due to their Buckingham Palace connections. Photographing these troops required meeting them on home turf of Knightsbridge. Focusing on The Lifeguards and the Blues and Royals, I captured the soldiers mounted in their distinguished uniform. Capturing these portraits, whilst also witnessing the Guard Mount with its 350-year-long ceremonial history.

The Guard Mount occurs daily 365 days per year without fail. The Household Cavalry serve as the Queen’s official bodyguard. More than 350 Horses are occupants of the barracks, and it’s humbling to see all the traditions of the regiment maintained. The uniforms of the Blues and Royals are remarkable to behold. When on duty soldiers wear the distinctive metal helmets, with a long plume of horses hair hanging on top, not seen on many other types of soldiers. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Gaselee Commanding Officer (Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment) Rory Lewis Photographer (London Military Portraiture 2016)

LCoH M Wrighton (Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment) Rory Lewis Photographer (London Military Portraiture 2016)

The Blues and Royals are the only regiment in the British Army to allow troopers and non-commissioned officers, when not wearing headdress, to salute an officer. The custom was started after the Battle of Warburg in 1760 by the Marquess of Granby, who commanded both the Royal Horse Guards and the Royal Dragoons. These were separate units at the time. During the battle, the Marquess had driven French forces from the field, losing both his hat and wig during the charge. When reporting to his commander, Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, in the heat of the moment he is said to have saluted without wearing his headdress, having lost it earlier. When the Marquess of Granby became the Colonel of the Blues, the regiment adopted this tradition.

(Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment) Rory Lewis Photographer (London Military Portraiture 2016)

First Lieutenant Bond (Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment) Rory Lewis Photographer (London Military Portraiture 2016)

When the Household Cavalry mounts an escort to the Sovereign on State occasions, a ceremonial axe with a spike is carried by a Farrier Corporal of Horse, which I managed to capture. The historical reason behind this is when a horse was wounded or injured so seriously it could not be treated, its suffering was ended by killing it with the spike. The axe is also a reminder of the days when the Sovereign’s escorts accompanied royal coaches when English roads were very bad. Horses often fell, becoming entangled in their harnesses and having to be freed with the cut of an axe. It’s also said in those times, if a horse had to be killed its rider had to bring back a hoof, cut off with the axe. This proved to the Quartermaster the animal was dead and hence preventing fraudulent replacement. Today, the axe remains as a symbol of the Farrier’s duties.