ROYAL HORSE GUARDS.
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.”