The Life Guards grew from the four troops of Horse Guards exclusively formed of gentlemen-troopers until the transformation of the last two remaining troops into Regiments of Life Guards in [ 1 ] [ 2 ] raised by Charles II around the time of his restoration , plus two troops of Horse Grenadier Guards rank and file composed of commoners , [ 3 ] which were raised some years later.
The 3rd and 4th troops were disbanded in From to , two squadrons from each of the Life Guard regiments served in the Peninsular War. In , the Life Guards under the command of Captain Oakes fired upon mourners trying to redirect the funeral procession of Queen Caroline through the city of London. Two civilians were killed. Though charges of manslaughter and murder were brought, no Life Guards were prosecuted. In , the two Life Guards regiments gave up their horses and were re-roled as machine gun battalions, becoming the 1st and 2nd Battalions, Guards Machine Gun Regiment.
They reverted to their previous names and roles after the end of the war. In , the unit left the Middle East and returned to England on leave. In , it returned to Germany as part of the 11th Armoured Division. Throughout the s and s, the unit repeatedly rotated from Britain to Germany.
In , the unit was deployed to Asia for the first time in central Malaysia until , returning to England. Like in the past decades, the unit was stationed in West Germany and England through the early to late s. During its deployments, the unit always maintained a squadron in London conducting public duties. In several squadrons were deployed to Northern Ireland during The Troubles , and the regiment would see action there several more times through the mids.
In March , B Squadron was deployed to Cyprus as part of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force , and this would become another location that components of the unit would be deployed to. In January it became a component of the 20th Armoured Brigade. Throughout the rest of the ss its headquarters moved frequently from Germany to Britain, and in January had squadrons deployed to Cyprus as part of a UN tour. In , as part of the Options for Change defence review, The Life Guards were joined with the Blues and Royals in a 'Union', becoming part of the new Household Cavalry , classified as a corps, not an amalgamation, forming the Household Cavalry Regiment armoured reconnaissance and the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment ceremonial duties.
