Editing Blues and Royals (section)

==Regimental traditions==
Instead of being known as the Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons, the regiment is known as The Blues and Royals and is therefore the only regiment in the British Army to be officially known by its nickname as opposed to its full name.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00tm6qf|title=BBC One - The Queen's Cavalry|publisher=Bbc.co.uk|date=2005-12-20|access-date=2014-05-03}}</ref>

Newly commissioned officers in the Blues and Royals have the rank of [[Cornet (military rank)|Cornet]], rather than [[second lieutenant|Second Lieutenant]] as is the standard in the rest of the British Army. There is no [[sergeant]] rank in the Household Cavalry; the equivalent of a sergeant in another unit is Corporal of Horse; the equivalent of [[Regimental Sergeant Major]] is Regimental Corporal Major, etc. King [[Edward VII]] established that the rank of private should be replaced by the rank of trooper in the cavalry.<ref>White-Spunner, p. xiv</ref>

The Blues and Royals is the only regiment in the British Army that allows troopers and non-commissioned officers, when not wearing headdress, to salute an officer. The custom started after the [[Battle of Warburg]] in 1760 by [[John Manners, Marquess of Granby]], who commanded both the Royal Horse Guards and the Royal Dragoons, which were separate units at the time. During the battle, the Marquess had driven the French forces from the field, losing both his hat and his wig during the charge. When reporting to his commander, [[Duke Ferdinand of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel|Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick]], in the heat of the moment he is said to have saluted without wearing his headdress, having lost it earlier. When the Marquess of Granby became the Colonel of the Blues, the regiment adopted this tradition.<ref>Interpretive sign at the [http://www.householdcavalrymuseum.co.uk/ Household Cavalry Museum] in London.</ref>

When the Household Cavalry mounts an escort to the Sovereign on State occasions, a ceremonial axe with a spike is carried by a [[Farrier]] Corporal of Horse. The historical reason behind this is that when a horse was wounded or injured so seriously that it could not be treated, its suffering was ended by killing it with the spike. The axe is also a reminder of the days when the Sovereign's escorts accompanied royal coaches and when English roads were very bad. Horses often fell, becoming entangled in their harnesses and had to be freed with the cut of an axe. It is also said that in those times, if a horse had to be killed, its rider had to bring back a hoof, cut off with the axe, to prove to the Quartermaster that the animal was dead and hence preventing fraudulent replacement. Today, the axe remains as a symbol of the Farrier's duties.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://beta.asoundstrategy.com/sitemaster/userUploads/site259/chouseholdcavalry.pdf|title=The Household Cavalry – Pageantry Personified|access-date=3 May 2014}}</ref>