In the States, the "postcard image" of Britain is that guard dressed in red with a big black fluffy hat. What is the name and history of that uniform?

shady shaker

These guys are called Beefeaters, probably because they look so well fed. Their official title is "Yeomen of the Guard". They were formed by Henry VII in 1485. Their function was to guard the Monarch. Until 1743, they accompanied him into battle. Nowadays they act as tour guides for the Tower of London. Aug 16 03, 8:42 PM

sequoianoir

Shady shaker, I'll let you off getting it totally wrong since you are from OZ. Beefeaters do not wear "a big black fluffy hat" and they are not dressed in red. A picture of a beefeater is here: http://www.cs.umd.edu/~jfoster/Photos/London/pages/R30-25.html The "big black fluffy hat" is called a BEARSKIN - since it is made from the skin of a bear (Canada's brown bear, culled by Inuit hunters under an agreement with the Canadian government) although using a synthetic substitute has been investigated. ONLY FIVE elite infantry regiments - the Coldstream, Scots, Welsh, Irish and Grenadier guards - wear the well-known bearskin hats. They were adopted to commemorate Britain's victory in 1815 over Napoleon's forces at Waterloo, where France's elite troops, the Imperial Guard, had worn bearskins to appear more intimidating. Plumes on the bearskin identify the various regiments. The Grenadiers' bearskin has a 6-inch (15-centimetre) white plume of goat's hair on the left side. The Coldstream Guards have a red plume on the right side. The Irish Guards' bearskin has a 6-inch St. Patrick's blue plume of cut feathers on the right side. The Welsh Guards have a 9-inch (23cm) white plume with a 2-inch (5cm) green band on the left side of the headdress. Scots Guards have no plumes on their bearskins. Aug 17 03, 9:27 AM

sequoianoir

Try again - a beefeater. http://www.cs.umd.edu/~jfoster/Photos/London/pages/R30-25.html Aug 17 03, 9:29 AM

sequoianoir

Coldstream guard in his SCARLET TUNIC http://www.project-x.org.uk/images/coldguard.jpg Aug 17 03, 9:32 AM

Flem-ish

Cannot that bearskin be called a "busby" too? And where is that name from ? Not from General Matt Busby, I bet... Aug 17 03, 2:48 PM

TabbyTom

"Busby" is certainly the word that we civilians generally use, but "bearskin" is the official military term in the Guards regiments. A "busby" was originally a wig. A quotation in the Oxford English Dictionary suggests that it may be an elaboration of "buzz", meaning frizzled and bushy, though some people think it comes from Doctor Richard Busby, who was the headmaster of Westminster School in the latter seventeenth century. From meaning a wig, it came to mean "a tall fur cap, with or without a plume, having a bag ... hanging out of the top on the right side, worn by hussars, artillerymen and engineers." The general public seems to have decided to apply the word also to the Guards' bearskins. Aug 17 03, 3:15 PM