The Guards Memorial on Horse Guards Road has marked its centenary, with soldiers from the Household Division marching past it exactly as 15,000 veterans did at its unveiling in 1926.
Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal took the salute and rededicated the memorial, which has also been newly restored, with its weathered badges and lettering recut ahead of the centenary.
The oldest guest at this year's rededication was 100-year-old Irish Guards veteran John Barber, echoing 100-year-old General Sir George Higginson, the oldest veteran present in 1926.
A hundred years ago, 15,000 veterans marched past a brand-new memorial in central London. Last week, soldiers from the Household Division marched past it again, to mark its centenary and remember why it was built.
Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, inspects the soldiers during the parade.
Arrival of the wreath party at the Guards memorial.
Arrival of the Guardsmen at Horse guard parade.
Arrival of the King’s Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard at guards memorial.
Arrival of the attached soldiers at Horse guard parade.
Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal, Princess Anne, laid a wreath at the Guards Memorial in tribute to the fallen soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country.
The Blues and Royals of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment salute HRH The Princess Royal, Princess Anne, at the conclusion of the parade at Wellington Barracks.
Standing opposite Horse Guards Parade, the memorial is 38 feet of stone and bronze, honouring 14,000 Guardsmen who died in the First World War. It was designed by architect H. Chalton Bradshaw, with sculpture by Gilbert Ledward and inscriptions attributed to Rudyard Kipling. Five bronze soldiers stand watch, one for each Foot Guards regiment: Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh. Ledward cast them from captured German artillery, turning enemy weapons into a lasting tribute.
The memorial carries more than one war's history. A Blitz bomb damaged one bronze figure, and the small hole from that blast was deliberately left in place after repair. After 1945, an inscription was added to remember those who died in the Second World War too. Ahead of this year's centenary, a sculptor spent months recutting the regimental badges and lettering, worn down by a century of London weather, so the memorial looks as sharp as it did in 1926.
At the original 1926 unveiling, the oldest veteran on parade was 100-year-old former Guardsman General Sir George Higginson. This year, the oldest guest was John Barber, a 100-year-old Irish Guards veteran who served from 1944 to 1948 and was born within a month of the memorial itself. Barber went on to become Town Crier of Southwold for 40 years, met members of the Royal Family, appeared in a Macy's Christmas advert, and built a house extension in his nineties to store his model railway collection.
The rededication was designed to echo the 1926 service closely. The Princess Royal, Senior Colonel of the Household Division, took the salute, addressed those gathered, and joined the Senior Chaplain in formally rededicating the memorial. Each of the five Foot Guards regiments laid a wreath, alongside the General Officer Commanding the Household Division, who laid one in memory of all who have fallen serving alongside Household Division Guardsmen. Prayers and a blessing were followed by the Last Post, a two-minute silence and Reveille.
The Band and Pipes and Drums of the Scots Guards performed Elgar's Nimrod, the Skye Boat Song, Flowers of the Forest and the National Anthem. Afterwards, the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment led the Foot Guards back to Wellington Barracks, where they marched past their Senior Colonel and Major General James Bowder, exactly as their predecessors had done a century before.
Massed band leads the parade at the horse guard during unveiling of Guards memorial.
Guardsmen draw back the Union Jack–draped curtain during the unveiling ceremony of the Guards Memorial at Horse Guards Parade.
Major General James Bowder pays his respects after laying a wreath at the Guards Memorial during the rededication ceremony at Horse Guards Parade.
Lieutenant Colonel Charles Foinette, Brigade Major for the Household Division, said:
"Standing here today connects the recruits of 2026 who face new threats in an uncertain world, directly to the 15,000 veterans who marched past this plinth in 1926. Their sense of duty and loyalty to the nation remains unbroken."
"Standing here today connects the recruits of 2026 who face new threats in an uncertain world, directly to the 15,000 veterans who marched past this plinth in 1926. Their sense of duty and loyalty to the nation remains unbroken."
Today's soldiers face threats their 1926 counterparts could never have imagined, from cyber-attacks to disinformation to renewed state-on-state rivalry. But the job underneath it all hasn't changed: showing up when it counts, standing your ground, and looking out for the people beside you.
The memorial is open to the public every day on Horse Guards Road. This weekend, visitors can see its freshly restored carvings and the flowers laid during the centenary events.
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