The Household Cavalry consists of The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Royal Dragoons). They are the most senior regiments in the British Army and are split between two different units equipped to perform two quite different roles.
The Household Cavalry Regiment has an operational role in armoured fighting vehicles which has seen them at the forefront of Britain’s military operations including the Falklands (1982), the Gulf (1990) and most recently Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment is equipped with horses. It is their unique privilege to meet the requirement to carry out mounted and some dismounted ceremonial duties on State and Royal occasions which include the provision of a Sovereign's Escort most commonly seen at the Queen’s Birthday Parade in June each year. Other occasions include Sovereign’s Escorts for Her Majesty The Queen during State Visits by visiting Heads of State, and as required by Her Majesty anywhere in the Kingdom.
Although the Household Cavalry was ordered to reduce by one Regiment in 1992, the Army Board directed that The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals were to retain their individual identities; as a result of this there was no amalgamation but a Union of the two Regiments.
