Royal Guard (France)
Bourbon military unit (1815–1830)
The Royal Guard (French: garde royale) was a French guard unit set up after the second Bourbon Restoration in 1814. The theoretical role of the unit and of the Maison militaire was to ensure the personal protection of the restored King of France, though it also operated as a combat unit. It served Louis XVIII and Charles X before being abolished by Louis Philippe. It was considered as an elite corps made up of veterans, designed to form part of the royal army's reserve force.
History
First restoration
On returning to France in 1814 Louis XVIII intended to restore the reputation of his royal household and created a government ministry to do it, under Pierre de Blacas. With Pierre Denniée as his deputy, de Blacas aimed to re-constitute the king's military household as it had existed under the ancien régime. An ordinance of 25 May 1814 endorsed the creation of several units, several of which had disappeared before the French Revolution.
This military household had 4629 cavalrymen and around 371 infantrymen organised into:
gardes du corps du roi (5 companies);
Cent-Suisses (1 company);
gardes de la porte (1 company);
gardes de la prévôté (1 company);
mousquetaires du roi (two companies);
gendarmes de la garde (1 company);
chevau-légers de la garde (1 company).
It also included the six regiments of the royal corps, made up of 2758 infantrymen and 2574 cavalrymen.
Louis used his military household to boost his prestige.
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