Thousands of tourists visit Whitehall each year and gaze at the Horse Guards sentries, but the full history of the building and the cavalrymen who guard it is not widely known. The Horse Guards site has been used for martial activity continuously since the mid-16th century, and this is the first book to tell its long and fascinating story. Where the sentries now stand, knights competed to become Champion at the Tilt from the time of Henry VIII. The special annual tournaments held for Elizabeth I's birthday are the direct predecessor of today's Queen's Birthday Parade, the Trooping of the Colour, held in the same arena. During the Civil War, the site was occupied by the guards of the Parliament and Palace, and guards continued to be stationed there to protect the palace long after the Restoration, overseeing the comings and goings of many monarchs and their families and courtiers. By the time New Horse Guards was built in the 1750s, it had become the first War Office, overseeing the nation's conflicts around the world. Horse Guards has continued to fulfil this military role to the present day. Throughout this beautifully illustrated book, the history of the place is interwoven with intriguing insights into the history of Britain and her kings and queens up to the present royal family, and also the development of the British Army seen in the context of its most senior regiments.