The Grenadier Guards reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Grenadier Guards

The Grenadier Guards is one of the older, Foot Guards regiments of the British Army.

In 1656, Lord Wentworth's Regiment was formed in the Spanish Netherlands, forming a portion of exiled King Charles II's bodyguard. A few years later, a similar regiment known as John Russell's Regiment of Guards was formed. In 1665, these two regiments were combined to form the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards, which is an ancestor to the modern Grenadier Guards.

The 1st Foot Guards (which later became the Grenadier Guards) received many battle honours, including:

• various actions near the Strait of Gibraltar
• the War of the Spanish Succession, including Oudenarde
• the War of the Austrian Succession
• the Peninsular War
• the Napoleonic Wars, namely Waterloo
• the Crimean War
• the Urabi Revolt
• the Opium Wars, namely Khartoum
• the Boer Wars
• World War I and World War II (North Africa, Italy, Northwest Europe)
• the Persian Gulf War

The Grenadier Guards' various colonels-in-chief have generally been the British monarchs, including Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, George VI, and Elizabeth II.

Many prestigious military officers have been colonels of this regiment, including:

• the Duke of Marlborough
• the Duke of Cumberland
• the Lord Ligonier
• the Duke of Wellington
• the Prince Consort
• the Duke of Cambridge
• the Duke of Edinburgh

See also

• Military history of the United Kingdom
• British Army
• Canadian Grenadier Guards

External links

• Grenadier Guards
• The Grenadier Guards

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