Household Cavalry Regiment (from 1992 to present)
 

The current Household Cavalry Regiment (from 1992 to present) is made up of two former regiments; the Blues and Royals and the Life Guards.


Q: Do they all wear the common HCR cap badge?

From what I understand, the ceremonial (mounted) units still wear the Blues and Royals and also the Life Guards uniforms.

When one joins the Army, do you select to serve in the Household Cavalry, the Blues and Royals or the Life Guards??

Thanks,

Drew:confused:

They retain their own Cap badges in the most part and the previous regtl uniforms depending on which sqn they are in.

Do they still wear the HCR badge on the forage cap, regimental on the beret?

G'day guys

Well when he wears / wore a uniform Prince Harry (now just Harry) wears the navy blue uniform of the Blues & Royals, you can clearly see the bullion arm badge worn at the top of his left arm.

I hope that this helps.

Regards

Phil
Keep safe.

What cap badge was "Harry" wearing - That is the question?

From memory, the HCR badge in forage cap.
And a quick Google to confirm, regimental on beret, including Blues & Royals on the AAC beret.

At first the two Household Cavalry regiments (then the Life Guards and the Royal Horse Guards) did not wear a cap badge at all on the coloured forage cap when it was first introduced c1904, in part because they had worn both, a pillbox cap and a forage cap without insignia for so long, and did not wish to follow the same practice as the line cavalry (even the NCOs had previously worn just a crown on pillbox caps based upon their arm badge, and no badge on forage caps).

Before the original HCR was formed the two regiments wore individual cap badges on coloured forage caps, although they were very similar, but simply with different titles on the badge's circlet. Separate and beautifully enameled cap badges were introduced comprising a simple circlet with title, surmounted by a crown, and with the Royal cypher at its centre. When the 1st and 2nd LG merged in 1922 their badge simply replaced 'first' and 'second' with 'The'.

When a cap badge was chosen to be worn by the original HCR, it was a generic enameled badge, based on a garter strap, and worn by both regiments on that particular cap. It remains to be the case today, but just with the Blues and Royals replacing the RHG within the duo.

I enclose an image of a pre-1953 version of HCR cap and insignia, and you can see that apart from the Sovereign's cypher at the centre of the cap badge, it is the same pattern as today.

Hey Tony

Thanks for sharing that beautiful set of badges

Regards

Phil.

Glad you found it interesting, Phil.

Just to be clear all those enamelled badges are fakes sold by Wharton Militaria. They’re not nice especially when compared to a genuine piece.

Despite what KK says I have never seen a 1LG or 2LG in gilt and enamelled that I consider genuine. Personally I doubt they exist but would love to be proved wrong.

The GvR badges are all from the common fake die à la Martin Marsh catalogues but had a bit more time and effort invested to void the annealed ‘v’ and of course add enamel. Always beware of Spiderman enamel!

The EviiiR badge is also straight from the MM repro catalogue and in my belief does not exist either. I have seen a genuine gilded The Life Guards EviiiR badge but it looks nothing like that, there is no laurel spray at 6 o’clock rather a dot.

As to the EiiR Household Cavalry, the Elizabethan die is no doubt still extant and in use. The one for sale on Bosley’s regimentalbadges.com site has a Gaunt London slider (unusually) but does appear to have some age to it. I think we can be certain the Wharton one given its appearance was made at the same time as the other repros and for the collectors market rather than the regiment.

This GvR Household Cavalry badge is genuine. The difference is quality and finish is very striking.

I’m sure that what you say will be of interest to collectors, Luke, and I understand why people who invest large amounts of money in a particular piece take great interest in what is or is not a fake. Personally I’m just a historian of uniform and it’s associated insignia and confine my studies to regimental museum collections, old photographs, quality paintings, regimental records, dress regulations, Army Orders, Army Council Instructions and other, documentary evidence. It is from those sources that I provided the information in my post. I leave it to the reader to decide if they find it of relevance according to their particular interest.

It’s important to note that the number of genuine badges will have been very small. First there were not that many officers in a regiment at a particular time. Second the coloured forage cap was only introduced circa 1904 and no badge at all was worn on it until after WW1, although different, plain metal badges were worn on drab service dress, which has caused confusion to those who do/did not understand that. Third, King George V died fairly soon after the badges were introduced, reducing further the number with his cypher. Fourth, King Edward VIII abdicated soon after his succession and again very few badges were made. Fifth, there were only a few years of the peace in which such enameled badges were required before war broke out again and service dress only, worn for the duration.

After both world wars it took some time before full pomp and circumstance returned and Britain after WW2 was economically depressed so that it was not until the 1950s that things began to return to normal. Soon after that King George VI died, so again there were relatively few badges with his cypher. Sixth, it was only in the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, our longest reigning monarch, that there was a long enough period for significant numbers of enameled badges to exist. By then 1st and 2nd LG had long before merged (1922). In 1961 1st Dragoons and the Royal Horse Guards merged, all events that had an effect on numbers of badges.

Overall then it has to be remembered that such specialised badges, worn for a specific purpose, on a particular item of dress, don’t exist in a vacuum and have to be considered in the context of the times in which they existed.

I believe officers of the three regiment only wore their particular regiments cap badge on their Service Dress cap, the generic garter scroll gilt and enamel cap badge being worn on the forage cap.
To the best of my knowledge, no such particular regimental gilt and enamel badges were ever worn, if they had been you would certainly expect to see portraits extant today.

Could you show one of these actually being worn please, I believe officers in both the Royal Horse Guards and subsequently the Blues and Royals actually always wore the gilt garter scroll cap badge and not a gilt and enamel badge with either regiments title on their forage caps.

No Frank, I don’t personally possess any images of the badges in use, and you are demanding something quite difficult to do. As I’ve tried to explain, first of all they existed for a short time, in very small numbers. Second, colour photography did not exist at the time they were in wear. Few portrait photos were taken of an officer in undress headdress (except in frock coats as normal barracks wear), as they very naturally preferred the splendour of full dress. The same applies to oil paintings, and in both cases the focus of the image was invariably on the man and not his cap badge. I’ve taken notes of things I’ve seen and read, but I don’t have something I can present to you and say here is proof. We are talking about a period spanning a hundred years. You’re entitled to your opinion, but I’m not going to argue with you.

NB. I enclose some pre-WW1 photos showing that no badge was worn until after the war, as I’ve explained (note usage too with mess dress). The very few badges ever produced would only have spanned from the mid 1920s to 1939. Other than on field caps, the regiment’s had previously no tradition whatsoever of wearing undress cap badges, it was alien to them. Instead they had special rank stars based on the order of the garter (not at that time worn by Foot Guards) and specially laced peaks on their caps in a unique pattern that was different for each regiment (inherited from the previous forage cap 1880-1904). They felt no need for other insignia.

I'm certainly not demanding anything, so just to be absolutely clear, you are saying that officers of both regiments of Life Guards and then The Life Guards, as well as the Royal Horse Guards and subsequently the Blues and Royals all wore gilt and enamel caps with the title of their particular regiment upon them on their forage caps?