THE GUARDS MUSEUM

Welcome to the official website of The Guards Museum in London. The museum contains a wealth of information and artefacts relating to the five regiments of Foot Guards namely Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards.

Along with the two regiments of Household Cavalry they make up Her Majesty’s Household Division and enjoy the treasured privilege of guarding The Sovereign and the Royal Palaces.

We hope you enjoy your visit to the site and that you find the information to be useful for discovering all you need to know about the museum.

If you find you need more information then please let us know. We are keen to make the museum as accessible as possible to everyone, so do get in touch if you feel we can provide a better service through this website.

Work on the website is on-going and more information will be added or updated when it become available.

BREAKING NEWS

February 25^th, 2013

Working in Partnership

The Royal Armouries is delighted to announce a new partnership with The Guards Museum in London.

As Britain’s oldest museum with a history dating back over 600 years the Royal Armouries is home to the national collection of arms & armour and operates across three sites; their ancestral home at the White Tower within the walls of the Tower of London, a World Heritage Site; at a purpose built museum in Leeds and at a substantial Victorian Fort near Portsmouth. The Guards Museum is the collective regimental museum of the 5 Foot Guards Regiments headquartered at Wellington Barracks in London, close to Buckingham Palace. The senior Regiment of the 5, the Grenadier Guards, trace their heritage back to their formation in the mid-17^th Century over the period surrounding the restoration of the Monarchy. The museum traces the 370 years of proud and loyal service given by The Guards Division to the Sovereign and the nation. The Foot Guards, namely the Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards, are the regiments that enjoy the treasured privilege of guarding the Sovereign and the Royal Palaces.

The rich cultural heritage of these two eminent institutions will enable them to work together on a range of new projects to bring exciting new visitor attractions and experiences to the visiting public across Britain. They will collaborate on major projects such as the upcoming 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo in 2015, where the Grenadier, Coldstream and Scots Guards played a pivotal role in repulsing the French attack on Hougoumont Farm and where they won the right to wear their world famous bearskin caps.

Royal Armouries’ Chairman Wes Paul said, "We see the Royal Armouries as a very rich cultural and heritage museum that houses remarkable objects that in many ways helped to shape the Britain that we know today. Britain’s leadership and excellence in developing military technologies,strategies and the courage and leadership of its military men and women have helped to define our national character. It therefore makes eminent sense for us to partner with a museum team that holds excellence and cultural heritage at the very core of what they do and portray. The Guards Museum is a gem; it brings to life the fascinating history of five of Britain’s foremost regiments tracing their formation in the mid-17^thCentury through to their very active role in the modern world today. There are great individual stories of heroism that are not just deeply inspirational but can reach and educate audiences in a way that the objects alone could never achieve. I am convinced the public will derive huge enjoyment from the enhanced visitor experience this partnership can deliver at all our attractions.”

The Guards Museum Curator Andrew Wallis said, "This is a momentous day for The Guards Museum. The Royal Armouries rightly enjoys a superb reputation in the museum world and this symbiotic relationship will deliver significant benefits to both institutions. We are impressed and inspired by the ideas they have in development and we hope to play a meaningful part in those projects. Though we are very different in scale we both believe passionately in the power of the history we seek to share with the public.”

For more information about both museums visit

www.royalarmouries.org and www.theguardsmuseum.com