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The British Grenadier Guards are one of the older, Foot Guards regiments of the British Army.The grouping of buttons on the tunic is a common way to distinguish between the regiments of Foot Guards. Grenadier Guards' buttons are equally spaced and plain (they are not marked with a regimental number). Modern Grenadier Guards carry the 'flaming bomb' badge.
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 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 WaterlooThe Battle of Waterloo fought on June 18, 1815, was Napoleon Bonaparte's last battle. After his exile to Elba, he had been restored to the throne of France for a Hundred Days. During this time, the forces of the rest of Europe converged on him, including
- the Crimean WarThe Crimean War lasted from 1854 to 1856. It was fought between Russia and an alliance of the United Kingdom, France, and the Ottoman Empire, joined somewhat tardily by Piedmont-Sardinia. The majority of the conflict took place around the Crimean peninsul
- the Urabi RevoltThe Urabi Revolt was an uprising in Egypt in 1881- 82 against the Khedive and European influence in the country. It was led by and named after Colonel Ahmed Urabi. Egypt in the 1870s was corrupt, tyrannically misgoverned and in a state of financial ruin.
- the Opium WarsThere were two Opium Wars between Britain and China, in the second of which France also participated alongside Britain: The growth of the opium trade (1650-1773) The Qing dynasty of China entered into a long decay beginning in the 1700's, beset by increas, namely Khartoum
- the Boer Wars
- World War IWorld War I (also known as the First World War , the Great War the War of the Nations and the "War to End All Wars") was a world conflict occurring from 1914 to 1918. No previous conflict had mobilized so many soldiers, or involved so many in the field of and World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough (North Africa, Italy, Northwest Europe)
- the Persian Gulf War
As a result of their heroic actions in fighting off the French grenadiers at Waterloo, the 1st Guards were renamed by Royal Proclamation as the Grenadier Guards, thus becoming the only regiment in the British Army to be named for one of its battle honours.
In 1994, under the Options for Change reforms, the Grenadier Guards was reduced to a single battalion. The 2nd Battalion was put into 'suspended animation', and its colours passed for safekeeping to No 2 Company, which was renamed 'Nijmegen Company', nominally attached to the 1st Battalion, Scots Guards.
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:
