Svea Life Guards
| Svea Life Guards | |
|---|---|
| Svea livgarde | |
 |
|
| Active | 1521–2000 |
| Country |
 Sweden
|
| Allegiance | Swedish Armed Forces |
| Branch | Swedish Army |
| Type | Infantry regiment |
| Size | Regiment |
| Part of |
Milo Ö (1942–1991) Milo M (1991–2000) |
| Garrison/HQ | (1843–1946) Solna (1947–1970) Kungsängen (1970–2000) |
| Motto(s) | Possunt nec posse videntur ("They do what appears to be impossible") |
| Colors | Yellow |
| March | "Kungl. Svea Livgardes Marsch" (W. Körner) "Kungl. Svea Livgardes Defileringsmarsch" (I. Gustavsson) "Kungl. Svea Livgardes Gamla Marsch, Inspektionsmarsch" (unknown) |
| Battle honours |
Swedish War of Liberation 1521 Rhine 1631 Lützen 1632 Warsaw 1656 March Across the Belts 1658 Halmstad 1676 Lund 1676 Landskrona 1677 Narva 1700 Düna 1701 Kliszów 1702 Holowczyn 1708 Svensksund 1790 |
The Svea Life Guards (Swedish: Svea livgarde), also I 1, was a Swedish Army infantry regiment that was active in various forms 1521–2000. The unit was based in the Stockholm garrison in and belonged to the King's Life and Household Troops (Kungl. Maj:ts Liv- och Hustrupper) until 1974.
Svea Life Guards, the Swedish Army's first guard infantry regiment, originated from the Trabant Corps that surrounded the first Vasa Kings and is said to have been formed in 1526. The Trabant Corps seems to have, at least in part, been included in the enlisted regiment established in 1613, which consisted mostly of Germans, which under the names of the King's Life and Court Regiment (Konungens liv- och hovregemente), the Yellow Regiment (Gula regementet) and the Yellow Brigade (Gula brigaden) participated in Gustavus Adolphus' campaign in Germany. The regiment's first two companies formed the king's lifeguard and consisted mostly of Swedes. The 60 survivors of the guard after the Battle of Lützen, followed the king's corpse to Sweden, after which the guard, whose staff has been increased to 148 men, united in 1644 with one established regiment in the Baltic governorates and one established regiment in Svealand into a large court regiment of which Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie was the commander.
Most of the regiment was disbanded after 1660, but the part still in Sweden was developed into a Guard or Court Regiment. Eventually increased to 24 companies, it participated in Charles XII's War and was lost after the Battle of Poltava, but was then reestablished. The Life Guards as the regiment then was commonly known, was given the name Svea Guards (Svea garde) in 1792. The regiment had its barracks at Fredrikshov Castle in Östermalm, Stockholm from 1802. In 1808 it lost for a short time its dignity of being a guard and was then called Fleetwood's Enlisted Regiment (Fleetwoodska värvade regementet). It was in 1809 again called Svea Guards (Svea garde) and received the name Svea Life Guards (Svea livgarde) the same year. From having been divided into 10 companies of 80 men, the regiment was in 1831 divides into eight companies with a total of 820 men. After the 1901 Defence Bill it increased into 12 companies (three battalions) and 1 machine gun company, but its number strength of volunteers was reduced to 555 men (music staff included) and after the 1914 Defence Bill further to 540 men.
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