Royal Army College

Lesson Overview

The earlier lessons of this course taught you to plan a ceremonial event, to rehearse and drill a body of troops, to supervise turnout and bearing to the highest standard, and then to form and train the Colour party. This lesson gathers all of that work into a single, demanding occasion and puts you to the test as the non-commissioned officer who runs it: the guard of honour. A guard of honour is an armed, picked body of the Army drawn up to render the State's highest compliments in person, to the Sovereign above all, to the Princely House, to a visiting head of state, to an ambassador presenting credentials, or to another dignitary the State wishes to honour. It is drill raised to its very highest pitch, because it is the Army examined not from a distance but at arm's length, soldier by soldier, under the eye of the Crown or its most honoured guests. The earlier course, The Colours, Honours, and Ceremonial Duties (PRO 210), taught the soldier the conduct of the guard of honour from within its ranks; this course teaches you to find it, build it, and run it.

The guard is commanded by an officer or a senior non-commissioned officer, and you, the ceremonial NCO, are the one who makes it work. You select and rehearse the guard, you bring its dress and arms to the exact standard, you dress the ranks and carry out the preliminary inspection, you pass the words of command the commander cannot pass alone, and you hold the guard to its bearing through the long stand and the close inspection. And there is one rule above all the others that you must drill into every soldier and never let slip: the Colour, where the guard carries it, is dipped only to the Sovereign, and to no one else, however distinguished; to all others the guard renders the general salute with the Colour carried upright. This is the centre of the occasion and the point on which ceremonial is most easily got wrong, and it is your charge to see that it is got right.

As in every lesson of this course, this is the knowledge layer. To present arms on a single word, to dress a hundred soldiers so that they stand as one, to hold perfect stillness through a long inspection, these are physical skills built on the square and certified in person under qualified supervision. Here you learn the conduct and the running of it: how a guard is found, selected, and rehearsed; its strength, composition, dress, and arms; the conduct on the day from receiving the person honoured through the salutes, the inspection, and the march-off; your own running of the guard under the guard commander; and the firm rule of the Colour you must enforce without exception. By the end you will be able to describe how a guard of honour is found, selected, and rehearsed, set out its strength, composition, dress, and arms, set out the conduct of the day step by step and your part in it, explain the royal salute and the general salute and state firmly to whom the Colour is and is not dipped, and explain why the rule of the Colour is the mark of what the Colour is and not a slight to a guest.

Key Terms

Guard of honour: an armed, picked body of soldiers drawn up under arms to receive and honour a person of the highest distinction, rendering a formal salute and standing a close inspection; the Army's compliments paid in person by a whole armed body.
Guard commander: the officer or senior non-commissioned officer who commands the guard, receives the person honoured, gives the words of command for the salutes, and accompanies the inspection; the NCO running the guard works under his direction.
Royal salute: the highest compliment the Army renders on parade, given to the Sovereign and, where the protocol so provides, to one standing in the Sovereign's place; the only salute at which the Colour is dipped.
General salute: the compliment rendered to any other person entitled to honours, however distinguished, at which the guard presents arms but the Colour is not dipped.
Present arms: the movement, made on the word of command, by which an armed body brings its weapons to the formal saluting position; it is the body of the salute, royal or general, that the guard renders.
Dipping the Colour: the lowering of a Colour in salute, rendered only to the Sovereign or to one standing in the Sovereign's place, and to no one else; the supreme act of homage of the consecrated emblem.
Inspection: the walking of the ranks by the person honoured, examining each soldier's turnout and bearing at close quarters; the heart of the occasion and the reason the standard must be flawless.
The carry: the position in which the Colour is held upright on the march and at the halt; the position at which the Colour is held for the general salute, not dipped.
Ensign: a flag, or the bearer who carries a flag or the Colour; it is not a rank. The Colour-bearer carries but never dips the Colour save to the Sovereign.

Finding, selecting, and rehearsing the guard

A guard of honour is found on the authority and in the manner laid down in standing orders and the protocol of the State, and it is not got up on local whim. When the order to find a guard reaches you, your first work is to learn the occasion exactly: whom the guard is to honour, where and when it will form, whether the Colour is to be carried, whether a band or corps of drums will parade, and what the standing orders and the protocol require of the day. Everything that follows, the strength you draw, the dress you order, the salute you rehearse, is fixed by the answers, and the most important of all is the first, because the whole form of the guard, and above all the rule of the Colour, turns on whom it honours. The Sovereign, H.R.H. The Prince of Kaharagia and Supreme Commander, stands above all others a guard may honour; everything is ordered around that fact.

The guard is a picked body, and you pick it. It is chosen for turnout and bearing, because it must withstand close inspection and stand wholly still for a long time, and because a single soldier out of dress mars the whole line. You select soldiers who can be relied on to be the Army's face at the closest range, whose drill is sound, whose turnout you can bring to the standard, and who have the steadiness to hold the long stand without breaking. Selection for a guard is itself a mark of trust, and you confer it; choose for the qualities the occasion demands, not for favour or convenience, because the guest will examine your choice soldier by soldier.

Then you rehearse, and the rehearsal is where the guard is truly built. You rehearse it as the lesson on rehearsing a body of troops taught: on the square, by parts and then as a whole, until the forming up, the salute, the inspection drill, and the march-off need no thought from any soldier in the guard. You time it, because a guard must never be caught unready or moving when the dignitary arrives, and timing is learned by repetition. You rehearse the long stand itself, so that the soldiers know what is asked of them and have stood it before the day. And above all you rehearse the rule of the Colour until the Colour-bearer and the whole guard hold it by instinct: the Colour dipped to the Sovereign, upright to all others, drilled so often that no doubt of it can survive into the day. The guard that fails on the day fails because it was not rehearsed; the guard that succeeds was built on the square first.

   FINDING, SELECTING + REHEARSING THE GUARD (the NCO's work)

   FIND:     on the authority + protocol of the State (standing orders)
             -> learn the occasion EXACTLY: whom it honours, where/when,
                Colour carried? band? what the protocol requires
             -> whom it honours fixes EVERYTHING (esp. the rule of the Colour)

   SELECT:   a PICKED body -- chosen for TURNOUT + BEARING + steadiness
             -> must stand close inspection + the long stand without breaking
             -> selection is a mark of trust you confer; choose for quality,
                not favour

   REHEARSE: on the square, by parts then as a whole, until it needs no thought
             -> TIME it (never caught unready / moving on arrival)
             -> rehearse the LONG STAND itself
             -> drill the RULE OF THE COLOUR until it is instinct
                (dipped to the Sovereign, UPRIGHT to all others)

Strength, composition, dress, and arms

A guard of honour is drawn up in line, armed with the parade weapon, commonly in two ranks under the guard commander, with the small number of supernumeraries needed to dress the ranks and pass the words of command. Its strength is fixed by the standing orders and the protocol of the occasion, by the distinction of the person honoured and by the soldiers you have to find of the standard required; a guard is not made large at the cost of its standard, because a smaller guard that is flawless honours the guest better than a larger one that is ragged. You draw the strength the occasion calls for and that you can bring to the standard, and no more.

The composition follows the occasion. Where the unit is entitled to carry it, the Colour parades with its escort and takes its place in the guard, the party you formed and trained in the previous lesson. Where a band or corps of drums exists it parades with the guard to play the salutes and to mark the movement of the person honoured. The guard commander is the officer or senior non-commissioned officer who commands the whole; you, running the guard under him, post yourself where you can dress the line, pass the words of command, and watch every soldier. A word on the parts and the names, because the careless get them wrong, and you must not. The Colour-bearer is an ensign in the proper sense of that word, which means a flag or the one who carries it, and not a rank: there is no rank of ensign in the Service, and the bearer who carries the Colour may be a junior officer, a Second Lieutenant (OF-1), or a senior non-commissioned officer such as a Staff or Colour Sergeant (OR-5), according to the unit's custom and the standing orders. There is no rank of warrant officer in the Service either; the senior non-commissioned ranks run to the Staff or Colour Sergeant (OR-5), and it is from among the non-commissioned officers, the Lance Corporal (OR-2), the Corporal (OR-3), the Sergeant (OR-4), and the Staff or Colour Sergeant (OR-5), that the running of the guard is found.

Dress and arms are your particular charge, because the guard is about to be examined at the closest range the Army is ever examined. Ceremonial dress is worn, and every weapon, belt, and boot is brought to the same exact standard. You inspect it as the lesson on supervising turnout and bearing taught, to the last detail, because the inspection on the day is the guest's, and nothing must reach it that your own eye should have caught. The arms are the parade weapon, handled by the arms drill the soldiers have rehearsed, brought to a uniform and immaculate state. The standard of dress and arms is not a matter of appearance only; it is the compliment itself, because the guard pays its honour by the perfection of its turnout and its drill, and the standard is the compliment.

   STRENGTH, COMPOSITION, DRESS + ARMS

   STRENGTH:     drawn up in line, commonly TWO RANKS, under the guard
                 commander, + the supernumeraries to dress + pass orders
                 -> fixed by standing orders / protocol / the distinction
                    of the person honoured / soldiers of the standard
                 -> a flawless SMALL guard honours better than a ragged
                    large one

   COMPOSITION:  + COLOUR party (escort) where the unit carries it
                 + BAND / corps of drums where one exists
                 commander = officer OR senior NCO; the NCO runs it under him
                 "Ensign" = the Colour-BEARER (OF-1 or OR-5), NOT a rank
                 NO warrant-officer rank: OR-2 LCpl, OR-3 Cpl, OR-4 Sgt,
                    OR-5 Staff/Colour Sgt run the guard

   DRESS+ARMS:   CEREMONIAL DRESS; every weapon/belt/boot to the SAME exact
                 standard; the parade weapon by rehearsed arms drill
                 -> YOU inspect to the last detail BEFORE the guest does
                 -> the standard IS the compliment

The salutes, and the firm rule of the Colour

Here is the centre of the lesson and the point you must guard most jealously, because it is where ceremonial is most easily got wrong and where the error is gravest. A guard renders one of two salutes, and the difference between them is exact.

To the Sovereign, and to one standing in the Sovereign's place, the guard renders the royal salute, the highest compliment the Army can pay on parade. On the word of command the whole guard presents arms together as one movement; where a band is present it plays the royal salute and the national anthem; and the Colour, if carried, is dipped, lowered in homage to the Crown. This is the supreme act of the consecrated emblem, the Colour bowing to the one to whom alone it bows, and the national anthem at the royal salute is the audible counterpart of the dipped Colour.

To any other person entitled to honours, however distinguished, the guard renders the general salute: the whole guard presents arms together exactly as before, and where a band is present it plays the general salute, but the Colour is not dipped. It is carried upright, at the carry, no matter how senior or how honoured the guest. A visiting head of state, an ambassador, a member of the Government, a great soldier of a friendly army, all receive the general salute with the Colour upright. The Colour does not dip to them, and to dip it to them would be not a courtesy but an error of the gravest kind.

This is the rule you must drill into the guard and enforce without exception, and you must be able to explain it, because a soldier who understands it will keep it and a soldier who merely memorised it may falter when the guest is grand and the moment is warm. A Colour is not a flag of greeting or a mark of personal regard. It is a consecrated emblem of the Army's loyalty to the Crown, and to dip it is to render homage. That homage belongs to the Sovereign alone, the source of the Army's loyalty and the one in whose name it serves. To dip the Colour to another would not honour that other; it would say a false thing about the Colour, that its loyalty was a thing it would lower to whoever was grand enough, when its whole meaning is that it lowers to the Crown and to nothing else. The guest is honoured in full by the present arms, the general salute, the band, and the inspection; the upright Colour is no withholding from the guest but a truth kept about the emblem, and the most distinguished guest the Principality could receive would understand it so, because the same rule governs in their own country.

Two further distinctions you must keep firm in your own mind and in the guard's, because both are constantly confused with the dipping of the Colour. First, flags are never dipped at all, to anyone, not even to the Sovereign: the National Flag and the Army Ensign are flags, not Colours, and a flag is flown, struck, and half-masted, but it is not lowered in salute. Second, a Colour is never half-masted: in mourning a Colour is draped with black crape or cased, carried covered as a mark of grief, but it is the flag, not the Colour, that is half-masted, and that is matter for the next lesson on the military funeral. Keep these apart and the whole of ceremonial falls into order; confuse them and the careless errors begin.

   THE SALUTES + THE FIRM RULE OF THE COLOUR

   PERSON HONOURED        SALUTE          PRESENT   BAND PLAYS      COLOUR
   --------------------   -------------   -------   ------------    ----------
   THE SOVEREIGN          ROYAL SALUTE    arms,     royal salute    DIPPED
   (or one standing in                    as one    + national      (lowered in
    the Sovereign's place)                          anthem           homage)

   any OTHER dignitary,   GENERAL         arms,     general         NOT dipped
   however distinguished  SALUTE          as one    salute          (upright,
   (head of state, amb-                                             at the carry)
    assador, minister...)

   -----------------------------------------------------------------
   FLAGS (National Flag, Army Ensign): NEVER dipped, to ANYONE.
   A COLOUR in mourning is DRAPED or CASED, NEVER half-masted.
   "Ensign" = a flag, or the Colour-BEARER. It is NOT a rank.

   WHY (drill this in, + be able to EXPLAIN it):
     the Colour is a CONSECRATED emblem of loyalty to the CROWN.
     To dip it is HOMAGE -- owed to the Sovereign, + to no one else.
     The guest is honoured in FULL by the general salute; the upright
     Colour is a truth kept about the emblem, NOT a slight to the guest.

The conduct on the day, and your running of it

The drill of each movement belongs to the square; what follows is the sequence in which those movements are strung together on the day, and your part in running each step under the guard commander. Hold the shape of it in your mind, so that on the day you are ahead of the guard at every point and never caught reacting.

First, the guard forms up and is prepared. You march it on, or form it up, in good time; you dress the ranks and carry out the close preliminary inspection, correcting every fault of dress and turnout before any guest is near, because nothing your eye should catch must reach the guest's. The Colour, if carried, is marched on with its escort and takes its place; the band, if present, takes post. You then stand the guard at ease, or stand it easy, to wait, and set the supernumeraries to watch for the dignitary's approach. Much of the guard's duty is this discipline of waiting, and it is your work to hold the guard steady through it.

Second, on the warning of arrival, you bring the guard to attention and make it ready, every soldier still, eyes front, weapon correct, the long discipline of waiting giving way to the sharp readiness of the occasion. The guard commander posts himself to receive the person honoured; you take your post where you can dress the line and pass the words of command.

Third, on the arrival of the person honoured, the salute is rendered on the word of command, the whole guard presenting arms as one: the royal salute to the Sovereign or one standing in his place, with the band playing the royal salute and the national anthem and the Colour dipped; the general salute to any other dignitary, with the Colour upright. The commander gives the executive word; where the running of the guard requires it, you pass or repeat the words of command so that the whole guard moves together on the single word, because the unison is itself part of the compliment. The guard holds the present until the salute is acknowledged and the order is given to shoulder or order arms.

Fourth comes the inspection, the test the whole standard exists for. The person honoured walks the ranks, commonly with the guard commander, examining the soldiers at close quarters, and you see that each soldier remains rigidly still, eyes front, or following the inspecting party with the eyes alone where the drill requires, showing no flicker of movement however long the inspection lasts. This is where your rehearsal of the long stand is repaid or exposed. Be ready, quietly and without fuss, for the soldier who feels faint: the disciplined course is to have him helped out properly rather than to let him sway and topple in the ranks.

Fifth, the compliments are maintained throughout the remainder of the occasion, and the guard salutes again on the departure of the person honoured exactly as on arrival, presenting arms on the word of command, the band playing and the Colour treated by the same rule, dipped to the Sovereign, upright to all others. Honours are paid on every coming and going of the dignitary while the guard is mounted, not only at the first arrival, and you hold the guard ready for each.

Sixth and last, when the occasion is complete and the dignitary has departed, you march the guard off in good order, the Colour and band with it, and only then dismiss it. The bearing held to the very end is part of the honour. The guard does not relax the moment the guest's back is turned, because the public is watching still, and the guard is the Army until it is off parade. Your work is not done until it is dismissed.

   CONDUCT ON THE DAY (sequence) + the NCO's running of it

   1. FORM UP & PREPARE   march on in good time; YOU dress ranks + do the
                          close preliminary inspection (catch every fault
                          before the guest); Colour & band take post; stand
                          at ease to wait; set supernumeraries to watch

   2. READY               on warning of arrival, call to ATTENTION; commander
                          posts to receive; you post to dress + pass orders

   3. SALUTE (arrival)    on the word, the guard PRESENTS ARMS as one
                          - SOVEREIGN (or one in his place)
                              -> ROYAL SALUTE; band: royal salute + anthem;
                                 COLOUR DIPPED
                          - other dignitary
                              -> GENERAL SALUTE; band: general salute;
                                 COLOUR UPRIGHT

   4. INSPECTION          dignitary walks the ranks; YOU hold every soldier
                          rigidly still; be ready to have a faint soldier
                          helped out properly

   5. COMPLIMENTS HELD    honours maintained throughout; salute repeated on
                          DEPARTURE by the SAME rule (every coming + going)

   6. MARCH OFF           march guard, Colour & band off in good order;
                          bearing held to the end; THEN dismiss

In Practice: The Sergeant Who Held the Line

A guard of honour is to be found to receive a visiting head of state, a friend of the Principality on a formal visit, and the running of it falls to a Sergeant (OR-4) under a guard commander who is a junior officer. The Sergeant begins where the work really begins, before the day. He learns the occasion exactly: a head of state, not the Sovereign, the Colour to be carried, a band to parade. From that first fact he knows the salute will be the general salute and the Colour will not dip, and he fixes it in his own mind before he says a word to the guard. He selects a picked body for turnout, bearing, and the steadiness to hold the long stand, and he rehearses them on the square by parts and then as a whole until the forming up, the present, and the inspection drill need no thought. He rehearses the long stand itself so the soldiers have stood it before, and he drills the rule of the Colour over and over with the young Colour-bearer, an ensign in the true sense of the word and not a rank, until the bearer holds the carry by instinct and cannot be surprised into doubting it.

On the day the guard forms up in good time, ceremonial dress immaculate, and the Sergeant dresses the ranks and carries out the close preliminary inspection, putting every fault of dress and arms right before the visitor is near, because nothing his eye should have caught must reach the guest's. He stands the guard easy to wait and sets a supernumerary to watch the approach. On the warning of arrival he brings the guard to attention; the commander posts to receive; the Sergeant takes his post to dress the line and pass the words of command. On the head of state's arrival the commander gives the word and the whole guard presents arms as one, the band playing the general salute, and the young Colour-bearer holds the Colour upright, at the carry, and does not dip it. For a moment, seeing how distinguished the guest is and how warmly he is received, the young bearer half-wonders whether he has it wrong; he has it exactly right, and he has it right because the Sergeant drilled the why of it into him and not merely the movement. Through the inspection the head of state walks the ranks with the commander, and every soldier stands rigidly still, the Sergeant's eye on the line, ready without fuss for any soldier who might falter. The honours are paid again, by the same rule, on the departure. The Sergeant marches the guard off in good order, the Colour and band with it, bearing held to the very end, and only then dismisses it. Had the Sovereign himself been received, the guard would have rendered the royal salute, the band would have played the royal salute and the national anthem, and the Colour would have been dipped in homage, the one occasion on which it bows. Nothing the Sergeant did was dramatic, and that is the whole of it: he found, built, and ran a guard that paid a distinguished guest the State's full honours, and kept, by the upright Colour, the truth of what the Colour is.

Check Your Understanding

Describe how a guard of honour is found, selected, and rehearsed, and set out its strength, composition, dress, and arms. Explain why the question of whom the guard honours must be settled first, and why a flawless small guard honours a guest better than a ragged large one.
Set out the conduct of a guard receiving a dignitary step by step, from forming up to march-off, and state your part in running each step under the guard commander. Explain the difference between the royal salute and the general salute, and state the place of the band and the national anthem where present.
To whom is a Colour dipped, and to whom is it never dipped, however distinguished? Explain why the upright Colour at a general salute is not a discourtesy to the guest but the mark of what the Colour is, and how you would drill and explain this rule to a guard. Then distinguish the dipping of a Colour from two things constantly confused with it: the half-masting of a flag, and the fact that flags are never dipped at all.

Reflection (write a short paragraph): This lesson places you, the non-commissioned officer, behind a guard of honour: you select it, rehearse it, dress it, and run it, and you carry the charge of drilling into it the one rule on which the meaning of the occasion turns, that the Colour is dipped to the Sovereign alone and to no one else. Think about why it is not enough to teach the guard the movement of the carry and the present, but why you must teach the young Colour-bearer the why of the upright Colour, so that he keeps it without faltering before the grandest guest in the land. What does it ask of you, as custodian of the Army's ceremonial standards, to build a guard that pays a distinguished guest every honour but this one, and holds that one line back because every soldier in it understands what dipping the Colour would mean?

Summary

A guard of honour is found on the authority and protocol of the State to render honours to the Sovereign above all, to the Princely House, to a visiting head of state, to an ambassador, or to another dignitary the State wishes to honour; the NCO learns the occasion exactly first, because whom it honours fixes the form of the guard and above all the rule of the Colour.
The NCO selects a picked body for turnout, bearing, and steadiness, rehearses it on the square by parts and then as a whole until it needs no thought, times it so it is never caught unready, rehearses the long stand, and drills the rule of the Colour until it is instinct. The guard that succeeds was built on the square first.
The guard is drawn up in line, commonly in two ranks under the guard commander, with the Colour party where the unit carries it and a band where one exists; its strength is fixed by the occasion and the standard, a flawless small guard honouring better than a ragged large one. Ceremonial dress is worn and dress and arms are brought to one exact standard, the NCO inspecting to the last detail before the guest does; the standard is the compliment.
The guard renders one of two salutes. The royal salute is given to the Sovereign or to one standing in his place: the whole guard presents arms, the band plays the royal salute and the national anthem, and the Colour is dipped in homage. The general salute is given to any other dignitary, however distinguished: the guard presents arms and the band plays the general salute, but the Colour is carried upright and not dipped.
A Colour is dipped only to the Sovereign and to no one else; the NCO drills and explains this without exception. The upright Colour at a general salute is no discourtesy, the guest being honoured in full by the present arms, the band, and the inspection; it is the mark of a consecrated emblem of loyalty to the Crown, lowered in homage to the Crown alone. Three distinctions stay firm: flags are never dipped at all, to anyone; a Colour is never half-masted but in mourning is draped or cased while the flag is half-masted; and "ensign" means a flag or the Colour-bearer, an OF-1 or OR-5 by custom, not a rank, there being no warrant-officer rank in the Service.
On the day the NCO runs the guard under the commander through forming up and preparation, attention on the warning, the salute on arrival, the close inspection, the compliments held throughout and the salute repeated on departure by the same rule, and the march-off in good order with bearing held to the very end before the guard is dismissed.

Conducting a Guard of Honour