Although still in military use, part of the building houses the Household Cavalry Museum which is open to the public. It also functions as a gateway between Whitehall and St James's Park.
The first Horse Guards building was commissioned by King Charles II in 1663,[1] on the site of a cavalry stables which had been built on the tiltyard of the Palace of Whitehall during the Commonwealth. Built of red brick and costing some £4,000, it comprised a central range with a clock tower, under which an arch connected Whitehall with St James's Park; two wings enclosed a courtyard with two large sentry boxes for mounted troopers on the Whitehall side, facing the palace gate. Entry to the park, then an enclosed private garden, was controlled by special ivory passes issued to favoured courtiers, a tradition which continues to the present, although the modern passes are made of plastic; only the monarch has the right to drive through the arch without a pass. Initially, the building was intended only to accommodate the King's Guard and included stabling for more than a hundred cavalry horses on the ground floor, as well as separate barracks for the foot guards. Following a fire at Whitehall in 1698, the court transferred to St James's Palace, therefore the function of Horse Guards changed to controlling the ceremonial approach to St James's from Westminster.[2]
A plan of William Kent's design for the new Horse Guards, dated 1750, the year that work commenced but after Kent's death.
In the following decades, Horse Guards was increasingly used as administrative offices for the growing regular army and soon became overcrowded. The fabric of the building was also allowed to deteriorate; pieces of falling masonry were said to be a danger to the sentries. In 1745, King George II commissioned a new building in the fashionable Palladian style by the architect William Kent. Having to reuse the same plot of land, Kent managed to retain essentially the same plan as the original building while doubling the interior space.[2] Kent died in April 1748 before the old Horse Guards had been demolished; work on the new building commenced in 1750 under the direction of Kent's assistant, John Vardy[1] and William Robinson from the Office of Works.[3] The cost of the buildings was £65,000 and took nearly ten years to complete. The Household Cavalry moved into the northern wing of the uncompleted building in 1755; at that time, there was stabling for 62 horses compared to 17 today. Originally, the two wings were connected to the central block by single storey ranges; in 1803-5 a further two floors were added to these, giving the building its present appearance.[2] Kent's decision to retain a Baroque clock tower on his new Palladian building resulted in a peculiar blend of styles, perhaps the cause of it being described by Charles Knight as "the ugliest building in the metropolis".[4]
At the annual Trooping the Colour ceremony in June, members of the Royal Family who are not participants watch the parade from the windows of Wellington's office over the archway.[7]
Horse Guards Clock
The clock is sited in the turret above the main archway; it has two faces, one facing Whitehall and the other, Horse Guards Parade, each dial being 7 feet 5 inches (2.26 metres) in diameter. It strikes the quarter-hours on two bells. Originally made by Thwaites in 1756, the clock was rebuilt in 1815–16 by Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy, the clockmaker to King George III.[8] Prior to the completion of the clock of Big Ben in 1859, the Horse Guards Clock was the main public clock in Westminster. A dark stain above the Roman number two on the clock face is supposed to mark the time of the execution of King Charles I in 1649, which took place in the roadway outside Horse Guards.[9] The annual ceremony of Trooping the Colour commences when the Horse Guards Clock strikes eleven.[10]
The Household Cavalry Museum is the official museum of the Household Cavalry and is located in the Horse Guards. Visitors can view the horses in the 18th-century working stables through a glazed partition. Exhibits explain the training and history of the regiment and include ceremonial uniforms, regalia, royal standards, awards, musical instruments, horse furniture and silverware by Fabergé. Visitors to the museum are welcome to watch the afternoon inspection of the guards and horses that happens daily at 4 pm. This routine began in 1894 when Queen Victoria found the guards drinking and gambling in the afternoon instead of tending to their duty. She proclaimed that they would be punished by a four o'clock inspection daily for the next 100 years. This proclamation and punishment officially expired in 1994, but Queen Elizabeth II chose to continue the inspection out of respect for tradition.[11]
Ceremonial
The daily ceremony of Changing The King's Life Guard on Horse Guards Parade.
When the monarch is in London, the guard consists of one officer and twelve other ranks including a trumpeter and standard bearer; known as a Long Guard. When the monarch is not in London, the guard is reduced to two non-commissioned officers and ten troopers; known as a Short Guard.
The ceremony of Changing The King's Life Guard takes place on Horse Guards Parade adjacent to the Horse Guards building. Two mounted sentries guard the entrance to Horse Guards on Whitehall from 10:00 am until 4:00 pm and are changed every hour. There is a dismounted parade at 4:00 pm (described above) and two dismounted sentries remain on duty until 8:00 pm.[12]
Gallery
Aerial view of Horse Guards from Whitehall
A mounted trooper of the Life Guards on duty at Horse Guards
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