Royal Horse Guards Regiment

Royal Horse Guards
Royal Horse Guards Cap Badge
Active	1650–1969
Country	Commonwealth of England (1650–1660)  Kingdom of England (1660–1707)  Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800)  United Kingdom (1801–1969)
Branch	British Army
Type	Cavalry
Role	Exploitation and armoured assault
Size	Divisional
Garrison/HQ	Windsor
Nickname(s)	The Blues
Motto(s)	Honi soit qui mal y pense
March	Quick March: Grand March Slow March: Regimental Slow March of the Royal Horse Guards
Mascot(s)	Newfoundland dog
Engagements	See Battle honours list
Commanders
Notable commanders	Richard Howard-Vyse Aubrey, Earl of Oxford Robert Hill John Manners, Marquess of Granby John Churchill, Earl of Marlborough

The Royal Regiment of Horse Guards (The Blues) (RHG) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry.

Raised in August 1650 at Newcastle upon Tyne and County Durham by Sir Arthur Haselrigge on the orders of Oliver Cromwell as a Regiment of Horse, the regiment became the Earl of Oxford's Regiment in 1660 upon the Restoration of King Charles II. As, uniquely, the regiment's coat was blue in colour at the time, it was nicknamed "the Oxford Blues", from which was derived the nickname the "Blues." In 1750 the regiment became the Royal Horse Guards Blue and eventually, in 1877, the Royal Horse Guards (The Blues).

The regiment served in the French Revolutionary Wars and in the Peninsular War. Two squadrons fought, with distinction, in the Household Brigade at the Battle of Waterloo. In 1918, the regiment served as the 3rd Battalion, Guards Machine Gun Regiment. During the Second World War the regiment was part of the Household Cavalry Composite Regiment. The Royal Horse Guards was amalgamated with the Royal Dragoons (1st Dragoons) to form the Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons) in 1969.

The Royal Regiment of Horse Guards has its origins in the Regiment of Cuirassiers raised by Sir Arthur Haselrig on the orders of Oliver Cromwell at Newcastle upon Tyne and County Durham in August 1650: it was transferred to the King's service in July 1660 before being disbanded at Bath, Somerset in December 1660. It was re-raised in the wake of the Venner Riots by King Charles II on creation of what would become the British Army on 26 January 1661. King Charles II offered the colonelcy of the new regiment to the Earl of Oxford and the regiment first paraded at Tuthill Field in London on 6 February 1661.