A special Honour Guard in London, UK

This year the Royal 22nd Regiment of Quebec City is celebrating its Centennial year of service. It is
a regular infantry regiment of the Canadian army and one of the most prestigious. H.E. the Governor General, the Rt Hon. General Georges Vanier (1888-1967) was one of its members and a hero of the First World War.

Insignia of the Royal 22nd Regiment 

The Sovereign shaking hands with soldiers of the Royal 22nd Regiment yesterday at the barracks at Windsor Castle. She surprised them by arriving at the Mess unannounced.

For this special occasion, the Queen who is the Colonel in Chief of the Regiment invited them to Buckingham Palace. The soldiers of the Regiment are all French Canadians and it has been thus since its foundation in 1914. They are garrisoned at the historic Citadel of Quebec City on Cap Diamant, high above the St-Lawrence River. The Citadel is also the Summer Residence of the Governor General of Canada. The Regiment has distinguished itself in many battles in both the Great War and the Second World War including the liberation of Italy, Korea and Afghanistan and has received many battle honours.

The last time they guarded the Palace Gates was during the Second World War. The language of orders and business in this Regiment is French. Their mascot is Batisse XI a white goat with golden hooves and horns.  See the web site in French, http://www.r22er.com

Royal 22nd Regiment soldiers receiving orders and

guarding Buckingham Palace during the Second World War

Royal 22nd Regiment this week in London 12-19 July 2014, guard duty at the Palace.

Regimental mascot Batisse XI 

Though the jacket is red and looks a lot like all the other grenadier guard regiments, note the black bear fur hat is much larger and has the regiment insignia of the Canadian beaver and the collar has a Fleurs de Lys.  

As a comparison here you have the Governor General David Johnston inspecting his own troops the GG Foot Guard, note the insignia on the collar is the Star of the Order of the Garter with the Moto Civitas et Princeps Cura Nostra. They also have a big red plume on the left side of their busby.

 A rare photo of H.E. the Governor General at Rideau Hall addressing his guards. He is wearing his Colonel of the Regiment uniform.

Marching and drill exercise

Since the age of 5 or so I have been a collector of 54mm lead soldiers. I have quite the collection which I have gathered from around the world over all these many years. I am running out of space to arrange and present my miniature army. Since they are not all the same era, I try to arranged it so it matches historical moments with some kind of consistency.

So this afternoon I decided to re-organise my soldiers, this I did under the gaze of the Philosopher King Frederick II the Great of Prussia, a sometimes friend of Voltaire, who by the way was a real pain at times.  His father the Sergeant King Frederick-Wilhelm  and his grandfather Frederick I who proclaimed himself King of Prussia, thus creating the Kingdom.

I have run out of space really, in two display cases, I have XVIII century Imperial Chinese soldiers, Greek soldiers, Sparta and Athens, from Antiquity, Russian Imperial Soldiers period 1900, Saxon Soldiers, Napoleonic and 1812 Russian Artillery and military band, French and English soldiers from Canada 1759, Italian Carabinieri and Papal Swiss Guards, Pope John XXIII in his black Mercedes Benz, and many more in boxes, including some Ottomans.

So I decided after much playing around with formations to retire for the time being the French and English Soldiers of the Seven Years War in Canada 1759 and their commanding officers Montcalm and Wolfe.
This way I can give more room to the Coronation Coach of Queen Elizabeth II, the Beefeaters, the Canadian RCMP and other British military troops. Also not to forget the Duke of Wellington, the Austrian troops with their great big Hapsburg flag and give Napoleon and his grenadiers more room. Czar Alexander I of Russia comes with artillery and a military honour guard and band of the Preobrazhensky guards. It looks more orderly now.

Putting away the other soldiers took me part of the Saturday afternoon, exhausting task. They have to be carefully place into respective boxes, I have hundreds of such boxes. I also have a very large collection of other pieces not on display.

Camille Saint-Saens accompanied us with his Marche Militaire Française.




Below some photos of the display case which I got in Rome at a furniture store on Via dei Serpenti.

 Austrian Troops charging French soldiers.

 French Cuirassier Officer shooting Austrian Officer 

 Tsar Alexander I receiving military honours.

 Coronation Coach with military escort

 Duke of Wellington with British troops

Happy Birthday!

21 April 1926 - 21 April 2011

The 21 April marks the 85th Birthday of Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada. Canada is a Constitutional Monarchy both French and British Monarchs have reigned over our country since 1534.

She has been our Sovereign for the last 59 years. The only Monarch many Canadians have known. She has visited Canada more than 20 times with Prince Philip, visiting all regions and Provinces of our great Dominion. She has been an example of devotion, duty, stability, courage.

Best Wishes to Her Canadian Majesty on her birthday. May she live forever!