The President's Bodyguard is an elite

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

of the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

. The primary role of the regiment is to escort and protect the

President of Pakistan The president of Pakistan () is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The president is the nominal head of the executive and the supreme commander of the Pakistan Armed Forces.

. The regiment is based at the Aiwan-e-Sadr in

Islamabad Islamabad (; , ; ) is the capital city of Pakistan. It is the country's tenth-most populous city with a population of over 1.1 million and is federally administered by the Pakistani government as part of the Islamabad Capital Territory. Bu ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. It is equipped as a mounted unit, with horses for ceremonies at the presidential palace.

History

The predecessor to the regiment was first formed in 1773 as the "Governor's Troop of Moghuls" and consisted of personnel drawn from across areas of India controlled by the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

. The regiment underwent a number of name changes with the final one before independence being in 1946 as the

Governor General's Bodyguard The Governor General's Bodyguard was a cavalry regiment of the British Indian Army and served as the British Indian equivalent to the Household Cavalry of the British Army. History The Presidency armies had no cavalry of any kind in the 1760s ...

. In 1947, the

partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

resulted in the creation of two independent countries,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

. Muslim personnel from the regiment were transferred to the new

to form the Governor General's Bodyguard, Pakistan, with Yaqoob Khan as the first commandant with the rank of lieutenant colonel. The rest of the colonial

remained with the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

and was renamed as the

President's Bodyguard The President's Bodyguard (PBG) is an elite household cavalry regiment of the Indian Army. It is the senior-most regiment in the order of precedence of the units of the Indian Army. The primary role of the President's Bodyguard is to escort an ...

when India became a republic in 1950. The regiment was subsequently renamed to its current name on 23 March 1956, when Pakistan became a republic and the Governor General,

Iskander Ali Mirza Iskander Ali Mirza (13 November 189913 November 1969) was a Bengali politician, statesman and military general who served as the Dominion of Pakistan's fourth and last governor-general of Pakistan from 1955 to 1956, and then as the Islamic Repub ...

, became the first President. In 1958, US Defense Secretary Neil H. McElroy became an honorary member of the regiment on October 24, just days before President Mirza was overthrown in the

1958 Pakistani coup d'état The 1958 Pakistani military coup was the first military coup in Pakistan that took place on 27 October 1958. It resulted in the toppling of Iskander Ali Mirza, the president of Pakistan, by Muhammad Ayub Khan, the commander-in-chief of the Pak ...

(27 October 1958). The regiment has retained a link with the British monarchy. In 1961, the regiment performed various equestrian activities such as polo games and

tent pegging Tent pegging (sometimes spelled tent-pegging or tentpegging) is a cavalry sport of ancient origin, and is one of only ten equestrian disciplines officially recognised by the International Equestrian Federation. Used narrowly, the term refers ...

during the state visit to Pakistan by the British queen,

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. A more recent interaction was the involvement of the regiment in events related to the 2012

Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II The year 2012 marked the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II being the 60th anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth II on 6 February 1952. The only diamond jubilee celebration for any of Elizabeth's predecessors was in 1897, for Queen Victo ...

Uniform

A news article of 1965 mentions the members of the regiment as wearing the pugree (turban).

Sports

The regiment has long had a connection with equestrianism and in particular with the sport of

polo Polo is a stick and ball game that is played on horseback as a traditional field sport. It is one of the world's oldest known team sports, having been adopted in the Western world from the game of Chovgan (), which originated in ancient ...

. In 1983, the Equestrian Federation of Pakistan was founded by the regiment and continued to be administered by it until December 2013, when responsibility was transferred to the

Punjab Rangers The Punjab Rangers (formally Pakistan Rangers (Punjab)) () is a federal paramilitary force in Pakistan. It is one of nine Civil Armed Forces and is one of two Ranger forces with the other one being the Sindh Rangers, which operates in Sindh, Si ...

. Teams from the regiment have participated in a number of polo tournaments including: * Winning the 1969 "Turkish President's Challenge Cup". * Participating in the 2011 "Caanchi & Lugari Polo Cup". * Winning the 2018 "Abrar Hussain Memorial Polo Cup". * Hosting the 2021 "President’s Bodyguard Polo Cup".

Alliances

* - Life Guards

References

{{Authority control Armoured regiments of Pakistan Protective security units Guards regiments Guards of honour

History

Uniform

Sports

Alliances

See also

References