Yeomen of the Guard: The Oldest Extant Military Corps in the World

The "Queen's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard" are a bodyguard of the British Commonwealth Monarch. The oldest extant British military corps, and indeed the oldest military corps in existence in the world today, it was created by Henry VII in 1485 at the Battle of Bosworth Field. As a token of this venerability, the Yeoman still wear red and gold state dress of Tudor style, equipped with a Wilkinson Sword on the left hip, and an eight-foot Partisan carried in the right arm.

History of the Queen's Body Guard

"The history of the Queen's Body Guard can be tentatively traced back to the armed personal guards of the Saxon and Norman sovereigns. However, its real historical origins are found in those who were charged with guarding the Plantagenet rulers of eight hundred years ago. These latter guards however, were known by various designations, such as “Cross Bowmen of the Household,” and “Archers of the Guard of the King’s Body,” and were often created anew by the Monarch on his accession. It was King Henry VII, the first of the Tudor dynasty, to make his Royal Body Guard a permanent institution and confer on it a definite title, a title it continues to hold.

Since its creation as a permanent Corps, the Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard has an absolutely unbroken history of over 520 years; for even during the brief period of The Commonwealth between 1649-1659 it continued to serve with King Charles II during his enforced absence in France, and at the Restoration accompanied him on his return to England, took its historic place in his triumphal entry into London, and stood around him at his immediate Coronation."

- from Yeomen of the Guard's new Official Site

The Yeomen of the Guard are not Beefeaters

The Queen's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard should not be confused with the Yeomen Warders who are permanently employed as custodians of the Tower of London and protector of the Crown Jewels, a duty the venerable Warders have carried out for many centuries. The Tudor uniform of the Queen's Body Guard and the Yeomen Warders state dress are practically identical, the only apparent difference is a crossbelt which is worn by the Queen's Body Guard and was used centuries ago to support a long barrelled rifle called a Harquebus.

As it states on the bodyguard's website, the present Yeomen of the Guard "no longer carry the harquebus, or a quiver of arrows with the long-bow of by-gone days, or indeed protect the body of the Sovereign in its true meaning, but we are as proud and certainly no less loyal to our Sovereign, because, we are:

The Queen’s Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard (The Body Guard)."

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University of King's College

The University of King's College was founded in Windsor, Nova Scotia, in 1789. The Windsor campus was granted a Royal Charter by King George III in 1802. King's was the first university to be established in English Canada, and is now the oldest English-speaking university in the British Commonwealth outside Britain and continues to celebrate King George III's birthday with a holiday from classes every year.

There had already been one King's College in the New World. Founded by King George II in New York in 1756, its short life ended with the American Revolution, and the old "King's" was reorganized as Columbia University.


King's in Windsor was founded by United Empire Loyalists who moved to Nova Scotia in the wake of the Revolution. During the 19th century all students were required to take oaths confirming their devotion to the Anglican Church.

In 1920 a fire ravaged the College, burning its main building to the ground -- thus raising the question of how (or even whether) King's was to survive. But King's was determined to carry on, and so accepted the terms of a generous grant from the Carnegie Foundation to rebuild not in Windsor but in Halifax, the capital city of Nova Scotia, entering into association with Dalhousie University.


When World War II broke out King's was requisitioned by the military for the training of naval officers. King's functioned as a "stone frigate", providing a facility for navigation training before officers were sent to their ships. From 1941 to 1945, the College buildings became His Majesty's Canadian Ship, "HMCS King's", where officers were trained for the Royal Canadian Navy. In reflection of this naval past, the student bar on campus is still known as the HMCS King's Wardroom, or simply "the Wardroom."

During the war the Germans would occasionally broadcast names of Allied ships they had sunk. Because the ships had to keep radio silence these reports could not be verified, and it was suspected that many were false. Allies circulated lists of non-active ships in the hopes of feeding the Germans disinformation; when the German's broadcast that they had sunk HMCS King's their ruse was made plain.

Queen Elizabeth II approved the new coat of arms devised by the College of Arms in London in 1963 replacing the old one for which, it had been discovered, no permission had ever been given by any recognized authority. The Latin motto Deo Legi Regi Gregi translated means For God, Law, King, People. Having a Royal Charter, King's is permitted to use the crown above the arms.

On the crest, the crown to the left of the Pascal Lamb represents Oxford University on which King's is patterned. The Pascal Lamb represents the Fredericton Diocese. The St. Andrew's Cross (with the Pastoral Staff and the Key) symbolizes the Nova Scotia Diocese. Prince Edward Island, which is part of the Diocese of Nova Scotia, is represented by four green trees.

Beaverbrook

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