Remarks by His Majesty The King at the Presentation of Union Standards to The Household Cavalry, Windsor Castle

Colonel Life Guards; Colonel Blues and Royals; Brigadier Berry; All Ranks, the Household Cavalry: it gives me the greatest pride to be able to present these new Standards to you today, especially in the presence of so many of the Regimental family. 

These Union Standards remain a physical reminder of that very personal bond between the Sovereign and the Regiments of The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals. They have lasted the test of time in various guises since before the Restoration to the present day. The one-time physical rallying point for your forebears, although they are now more often seen on parade, they remain a golden thread that connects the present to an illustrious past. 

The Household Cavalry is renowned worldwide for the splendours of all those unique ceremonies at the heart of the nation, and today, seeing you all on parade here, I am fully aware you continue to represent the very best of that ceremonial brilliance. Moreover, looking at these new Standards, you will see your history written in battle honours from Dettingen and Tangier to Afghanistan. It is also written in the design of your uniforms, and on the medals that you hold and wear. Together, these all show that even while you perpetually produce the highest standards of ceremonial magnificence, you remain at the same time a most impressive array of soldiers whose core role, and most vital characteristic that defines the Household Cavalry, is that tenacity to fight and win.

In every decade following the Second World War that you have received a new Standard, you have also been deployed on operations – from the Canal Zone, through Malaysia, Northern Ireland, the Falklands, the Gulf, the Balkans, Afghanistan and, more recently, on duty with the United Nations in Cyprus and with N.A.T.O. in Kosovo. You now field modern armour and train not with swords and axes but with snipers and drones. Such substantive historic and recent experience underpins everything which makes the Household Division so special, and credible, in the United Kingdom, among our Allies and around the world. 

At such a time of global uncertainty, it is of crucial importance to preserve the attributes of excellence and achievement for which you are famous, and which are symbolized by these Standards. Emblazoned as they are with the battle honours earned by the blood, toil, tears and sweat of soldiers past, they are the embodied soul of the Regiment. I know you will cherish them, and as your Colonel-in-Chief, I commend these Standards to your safe-keeping as a source of honour and inspiration to all of you, whether on parade in London, or overseas. Carry them with pride, that you may do your duty and serve your Country well.