It bears the Royal Arms as its crest.
It obtained its sea-green facings in honour of Queen Catherine, whose favourite colour it was. It is not known when the facings were changed, but it was between 1690 and 1742; its standard was changed from crimson to blue in 1758.
ROYAL HORSE GUARDS.
| Titles. | Colour of | Campaigns, Battles, &c. | ||
| Uniform. | Facings. | |||
| The Royal Regiment of Horse. 1661–1687 The Royal Regiment of Horse Guards. 1687–1750 Royal Horse Guards Blue. 1750–1819 Royal Horse Guards. 1819—— | Scarlet, 1661—. | Blue, 1661—. | Walcourt, 1689. Flanders, 1689–1690. Boyne, 1690. Anghrim, 1691. Dettingen, 1743. Fontenoy, 1745. Flanders, 1742–1745. Minden, 1759. Warbourg, 1760. | Wilhelmstahl, 1762. Germany, 1758–1762. Cateau, 1794. Tournay, 1794. Flanders, 1794–1795. Peninsula, 1812–1814. Waterloo, 1815. Netherlands, 1815. |
This Regiment is the only Regiment of Cavalry now in existence that formed part of the Parliamentary Army during the reign of King Charles I., and was then known as Colonel Unton Crook’s. At the Restoration it was called “The Royal Regiment.”
It wore cuirasses from its formation to 1698, and resumed them in 1821.
It bears the Royal Arms as its crest.
It obtained the name of “Oxford Blues” about 1690 to distinguish it from a Dutch Regiment of Horse Guards dressed in Blue commanded by the Earl of Portland, this Regiment being commanded by the Earl of Oxford. It was also known as the “Blue Guards” during the campaign in Flanders 1742–45, and is now commonly called “The Blues.”
It was presented by King William IV. with a Standard emblazoned with “Dettingen, Minden, Warbourg, Cateau.”