The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, visited this morning the headquarters of the King, the Queen and the Princess in El Pardo, headquarters of the Royal Guard. This appointment is due to the promise made by Margarita Robles on the eve of the Military Easter, when she invited the head of the unit and its members to visit them to know first-hand their daily activity and their perspectives for the coming months.
After being received by Lieutenant General Emilio Gracia Cirugeda, head of the Military Room of the House of S. M. the King, the minister attended the honors in charge of a picket and then participated in the presentation by Colonel Pablo Mateo and Álvarez de Toledo, head of the Royal Guard.
It was precisely in the presentation that Colonel Mateo announced that the annual exercise that, in each edition, is carried out in a Spanish province, will be this year in Cantabria. The unit plans to travel there in June with the aim of carrying out this exercise and getting closer to the citizens through, among other activities, a civil flag swearing.
This initiative is framed in the desire for this historical unity, whose beginnings date back to the s. XI, for divulging his work and his legacy, formed for centuries in the service of the House of S. M. the King. Its mission is to provide military guard, to render honours and to give solemn escorts to the King and the Royal Family, as well as to foreign heads of state when ordered.
They currently have 1,545 members, including troops and commanders, who come from the three armies and who are joined as active by 170 horses and 50 dogs.
As such, the Royal Guard is the only military unit that depends on the Royal House and not on the Ministry of Defense, from which it receives, through Royal Decree, support in terms of infrastructure and, through the subdirectorate of Peripheral Administration, in everything related to the horse and cynological breeding.
CONSTANT TRAINING
During his speech, Colonel Pablo Mateo and Álvarez de Toledo thanked for this support and, in addition to announcing the visit to Cantabria, he mentioned the various activities they carry out regularly to make themselves known, both among citizens and internally. Once a year they visit the academies of officers and non-commissioned officers and perform joint exercises with the three armies which, in addition to facilitating contact between the units, allows the members of the Royal Guard to receive constant training and be perfectly trained to reintegrate into their armies.
They also publish the magazine Alabarda which, as a yearbook, records the activity of the unit and whose next issue, relating to 2023, is about to be published.
After touring the facilities and visiting the Royal Battery and the Squadron, the minister signed in the visitors’ book of the Royal Guard, where she recorded her gratitude for the “great work” they do in the service of Spain and the Crown, and for an “unforgettable visit”.