The Royal Guards,

Stockholm, Sweden

The Royal Guards

The Royal Guards (Swedish Högvakten) was established in the 16th century and has been guarding the Stockholm Royal Palace since 1523. An older Swedish term for Högvakten (Royal Guards) is Slottsvakten (Palace Guards). Image: The Life Guards performing Royal Guards duties, Skeppsbron, Stockholm 2012. Free image Wikipedia.

Manning of the Royal Guards

Until mid-19th century, the Royal Guards numbered between 100 and 200 soldiers of the Stockholm house-hold division. The Royal Guards also maintained law and order in the city, as well as providing fire-fighting services. There were several guardrooms (Corps de Gardes) in various places in Stockholm such as Gustaf Adolf Torg, Norrmalm Torg, Östermalm Torg and Södermalm Torg. Image : The Second Guards performing Royal Guards duties at the Corps-de-Garde at Arvfursten Palace, Gustaf Adolf Torg in 1869. Arvfursten Palace is today the location of the State Department of Sweden. Free image Wikipedia. When a modern uniformed Police and fire-fighting services was established mid-19th century these two services took over the responsibility for law and order respectively firefighting in Stockholm and the duties for the Royal Guards thereafter was solely guarding the Royal Palace and its numbers was reduced to between 30 and 50 soldiers. Today, between 50 and 60 soldiers serve in the Royal Guards, approximately 35 at Stockholm Royal Palace, and 25 at Drottningholm Palace.

Military Units Performing Royal Guards

Duties

Traditionally the Royal Guards has been manned by soldiers from the Life Guards of Foot (Swedish Livgradet till fot). When the Second Life Guards (Swedish Andra Livgardet) was established in 1790 they were also contributing with soldiers to the Royal Guards. The Horse Guards (Livgardet till häst) was never used for Royal Guard services. Instead they contributed with Royal escort and orderly services. However, in 1906, a mounted guard unit was serving in the Royal Guards for the first time. It was the Life Regiment Dragoons (Livregementets dragoner, K2). At times of war or similar, also other military units have temporally been serving in the Royal Guards. In 1813, for example, detachments of Uppland Regiment and Västmanland Regiment was serving in the Royal Guards. Image: Changing of the Guard, Outer Courtyard, Stockholm Palace. The photo is from the beginning of the 1910s. Free image Wikipedia. During the second half of the 19th century, the Royal Guards was also manned with soldiers of other regiments of the Stockholm garrison. This partly due to large military maneuvers which limited the time for the Life Guards to do Royal Guards duty. From 1960, the Royal Guards has been bestowed with detachments upon all serving regiments of the Swedish Armed Forces. However, these detachments only serve for 5 to 7 days in each rotation; the main part of the year, the Royal Guard duty is being performed by the Lifeguards. Occasionally also other detachments of the Armed Forces, like the National Home Guard, perform guard duties at Stockholm Royal Palace.

The Artillery Guard at Stockholm Palace

Between the 16th century and 1850 there also has been an Artillery Guard at the Royal Palace. Originally, the duty of the Artillery Guards was to man the palace artillery. However, the Artillery Guards remained at the palace also after the palace ceased to be a fortification. The Artillery Guards was manned with 7 artillerymen and an officer from the Royal Svea Artillery regiment of the Stockholm Garrison. In honor of the Artillery Guards there still are four artillery guns at the outer palace courtyard. See image above.

Palace Guards at other Royal Palaces

During the 20th century, but also in earlier times, there has been a detachment of the Royal Guards at Drottningholm Palace, in the vicinity of Stockholm, but also at other Royal Palaces when the Royal family have been staying there. Drottningholm Palace A stationary Royal Guards detachment was established at Drottningholm Palace in 1981 when the Royal Family took up their residence at the palace. This detachment consists of 25 soldiers. Image: The Royal Guards at Drottningholm Palace. Free image Wikipedia.

A Palace Guard at Drottningholm Palace in

the end of the 1700s

A guard battalion was established by King Gustav IV Adolf as a palace guard at Drottningholm Palace in 1798 which consisted of 250 grenadiers soldiers. The name of the guards was King’s Grenadier Batallion and they were responsible for the guard duties at Drottningholm. The unit was equipped with a special uniform that was only worn by this palace guard. The palace battalion was disestablished only a year later, 1799.

The Royal Guards Today

Today, the Royal Guards is responsible, in co- operation with the police and palace authorities, for guarding the Royal Palace in Stockholm and Drottningholm Palace. The Royal Guards is also part of the defense force of Stockholm City. When guard duties are required, the Royal Guards also act as an honorary guard to King Carl XVI Gustav (present king). All soldiers in the Royal Guards are therefore specially trained in protection duties. The Royal Guards also act as honorary guard at state ceremonies, ministry of defense official visits, visits by foreign military senior commanders and foreign naval visits. Changing of the Guard at the Royal Palace in Stockholm takes place every day of the year. However, the ceremonial march through central Stockholm, accompanied by a full military band, is usually only possible from May to August.

Source References

• Wikipedia • The Swedish Armed Forces • The Royal Household (Hovstaten) Top of page