It's always a special treat to take part in activities that aren't geared for tourists, so when we had an opportunity to visit the army museum in Chelsea to meet the Queen's Life Guard of the Household Cavalry (Horse Guards), we could not pass that up. Most of the visitors were Londoners.
The Household Cavalry are the mounted officers that you see on TV on the queen's birthday and other ceremonial occasions, and in the daily Horse Guard Parade as they ride from their barracks.
The officers at the museum knew the history of the units well and shared several fascinating tidbits. The Life Guard of the cavalry is made up of the two most senior regiments of the British Army (The Royals and The Blues).* The uniforms date back to 1660-1661, after Charles II assumed the throne when the monarchy was restored following the death of Oliver Cromwell.
Charles II made his loyal personal guard wear red, while the other army officers wore blue. After all, his father, Charles I, had been executed at the end of the English Civil War, and he wanted to clearly identify those officers whom he could trust. (The long white tassels of the The Royals were originally made of strips of whalebone, left over from the making of corsets. Today, however, the tassels are both made from horsehair.)
The young men who served as tour guides also displayed another uniform that has black strips and buttons on the cuffs. (Sorry, no photo.) Those were added by Queen Victoria. The black strips were added in honor of Prince Albert after his passing, but the addition of the buttons resulted from a mistaken impression. When reviewing the troops, Queen Victoria noted that some of the officers had what appeared to be mucous on their sleeves. She thought they had wiped their noses on their sleeves, and she was disgusted! So she had buttons added to the cuffs. However, the officers she observed were members of the band. As any horn player knows, saliva can build up in the instrument. The band members had simply tapped their horns on their sleeves, so it was saliva and not nasal mucous that she witnessed!
Of course, for me, the highlight was seeing the horses. We met the horse below, Gladstone, and his rider, who was from New Zealand.
Kevin also viewed an exhibit by the artist, Alfred Munnings, an official war artist of World War I, and known for his horse paintings.
I asked Kevin, "Why he were you so interested in the exhibit?," because while I was intrigued by the poster advertising the paintings and his impressionistic style, I did not know Munnings.
Kevin stared at me, and then grinned, as the light broke. "Oh," he said, "You don't read Dick Francis novels!"
It's true. You are either a Dick Francis fan or you're not, and I've just never been able to get into his mysteries. Dick Francis was a steeplehorse jockey at one point, and his crime novels typically revolve around horse racing.
The horse guards show was just one of the things we experienced thanks to The Londonist, a free newsletter delivered by email every day that lists upcoming events. If you're going to London, it's worth signing up for.
*I have tried to make sure the information on the Household Cavalry is accurate, but between the guide's talk and what I found on the internet, there was some confusion. I apologize if I have mis-stated anything.
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