Through Fifteen Reigns: A Complete History of the Household Cavalry

Unique among all the military bodies of the world, the British Household Cavalry has always ridden, marched and stood closest to the Monarch ever since its foundation in 1660.The Corps is famous, world-wide, for its outstanding pageantry, its dazzling guards and escorts, State trumpeters and musical rides and the inevitable presence of its soldiers whenever the Sovereign is involved in ceremonial events.What is less well known is the Household Cavalry's astonishing record of fighting efficiency and gallantry in most of the major campaigns in which the British army has had a share during the past three centuries and more. The versatility of the Corps and the adaptability of its members - transferring from the equestrian role to armour, from ceremonial to combat - is a byword throughout the British army.This book, by a former regular Household Cavalry officer and established historian, is the first in which the wartime and peacetime records of all three incorporated Regiments - The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons) - have been woven together, to create what is arguably the most exciting and colourful regimental history of them all.