Chief of the General Staff (United Kingdom)
Chief of the General Staff has been the title of the professional head of the British Army since 1964. The CGS is a member of both the Chiefs of the Army Board. Prior to 1964 the title was Chief of the Imperial General Staff. Since 1959, the post has been subordinate to the Chief of the Defence Staff, the post held by the professional head of the British Armed Forces; the current Chief of the General Staff is General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith – having succeeded his predecessor, General Sir Nick Carter in June 2018. The title was used for five years between the demise of the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in 1904 and the introduction of Chief of the Imperial General Staff in 1909; the post was held by General Sir Neville Lyttelton and by Field Marshal Sir William Nicholson. Throughout the existence of the post the Chief of the General Staff has been the First Military Member of the Army Board; the Chief was responsible for commanding the entire British Army. During the Second World War, General Brooke focused on grand strategy, his relationships, through the Combined Chiefs of Staff with his American counterparts.
He was responsible for the appointment and evaluation of senior commanders, allocation of manpower and equipment, the organization of tactical air forces in support of land operations of field commanders. Brooke vigorously allocated responsibilities to his deputies, despite the traditional historical distrust that had existed between the military and the political side of the War Office, he got along quite well with his counterpart, the Secretary of State for War, first David Margesson and Sir James Grigg. Chief of the Defence Staff First Sea Lord / Chief of the Naval Staff Chief of the Air Staff Deputy Chief of the General Staff
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is notable for its long association with the English and British royal family and for its architecture; the original castle was built in the 11th century after the Norman invasion of England by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I, it has been used by the reigning monarch and is the longest-occupied palace in Europe; the castle's lavish early 19th-century State Apartments were described by the art historian Hugh Roberts as "a superb and unrivalled sequence of rooms regarded as the finest and most complete expression of Georgian taste". Inside the castle walls is the 15th-century St George's Chapel, considered by the historian John Martin Robinson to be "one of the supreme achievements of English Perpendicular Gothic" design. Designed to protect Norman dominance around the outskirts of London and oversee a strategically important part of the River Thames, Windsor Castle was built as a motte-and-bailey, with three wards surrounding a central mound.
Replaced with stone fortifications, the castle withstood a prolonged siege during the First Barons' War at the start of the 13th century. Henry III built a luxurious royal palace within the castle during the middle of the century, Edward III went further, rebuilding the palace to make an grander set of buildings in what would become "the most expensive secular building project of the entire Middle Ages in England". Edward's core design lasted through the Tudor period, during which Henry VIII and Elizabeth I made increasing use of the castle as a royal court and centre for diplomatic entertainment. Windsor Castle survived the tumultuous period of the English Civil War, when it was used as a military headquarters by Parliamentary forces and a prison for Charles I. At the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Charles II rebuilt much of Windsor Castle with the help of the architect Hugh May, creating a set of extravagant Baroque interiors that are still admired. After a period of neglect during the 18th century, George III and George IV renovated and rebuilt Charles II's palace at colossal expense, producing the current design of the State Apartments, full of Rococo and Baroque furnishings.
Queen Victoria made a few minor changes to the castle, which became the centre for royal entertainment for much of her reign. Windsor Castle was used as a refuge by the royal family during the Luftwaffe bombing campaigns of the Second World War and survived a fire in 1992, it is a popular tourist attraction, a venue for hosting state visits, the preferred weekend home of Elizabeth II. Windsor Castle occupies 13 acres, combines the features of a fortification, a palace, a small town; the present-day castle was created during a sequence of phased building projects, culminating in the reconstruction work after a fire in 1992. It is in essence a Georgian and Victorian design based on a medieval structure, with Gothic features reinvented in a modern style. Since the 14th century, architecture at the castle has attempted to produce a contemporary reinterpretation of older fashions and traditions imitating outmoded or antiquated styles; as a result, architect Sir William Whitfield has pointed to Windsor Castle's architecture as having "a certain fictive quality", the Picturesque and Gothic design generating "a sense that a theatrical performance is being put on here", despite late 20th century efforts to expose more of the older structures to increase the sense of authenticity.
Although there has been some criticism, the castle's architecture and history lends it a "place amongst the greatest European palaces". At the heart of Windsor Castle is the Middle Ward, a bailey formed around the motte or artificial hill in the centre of the ward; the motte is 50 feet high and is made from chalk excavated from the surrounding ditch. The keep, called the Round Tower, on the top of the motte is based on an original 12th-century building, extended upwards in the early 19th century under architect Jeffry Wyatville by 30 ft to produce a more imposing height and silhouette; the interior of the Round Tower was further redesigned in 1991–3 to provide additional space for the Royal Archives, an additional room being built in the space left by Wyatville's hollow extension. The Round Tower is in reality far from cylindrical, due to the shape and structure of the motte beneath it; the current height of the tower has been criticised as being disproportionate to its width. The western entrance to the Middle Ward is now open, a gateway leads north from the ward onto the North Terrace.
The eastern exit from the ward is guarded by the Norman Gatehouse. This gatehouse, despite its name, dates from the 14th century, is vaulted and decorated with carvings, including surviving medieval lion masks, traditional symbols of majesty, to form an impressive entrance to the Upper Ward. Wyatville redesigned the exterior of the gatehouse, the interior was heavily converted in the 19th century for residential use; the Upper Ward of Windsor Castle comprises a number of major buildings enclosed by the upper bailey wall, forming a central quadrangle. The State Apartments run along the north of the ward, with a range of buildings along the east wall, the private royal apartments and the King George IV Gate to the south, with the Edward III Tower in the south-west corner; the motte and the Round Tower form the west edge of the ward. A bronze statue of Charles II on horseback sits beneath the Round Tower. Inspired by Hubert Le Sueur's statue of Charles I in London, the statue was cast by Josias Ibach in 1679, with the marble plinth featuring carvings
Household Division
Household Division is a term used principally in the Commonwealth of Nations to describe a country’s most elite or senior military units, or those military units that provide ceremonial or protective functions associated directly with the head of state. In medieval Western Europe, the most able warriors were pressed into service as the personal bodyguards to the monarch and other members of the royal or imperial household. From this origin developed the practice of designating a country’s finest military units as forming Household or Guards regiments. Members of the Household Divisions would accompany the monarch to protect him when he ventured into the public. Hence, as kingdoms grew larger and more politically complex, the Household Divisions became part of the public spectacle of the state, their uniforms and personal attributes such as height were selected to engender awe on ceremonial occasions. The Household Divisions thus developed a tradition of providing a theatrical ceremonial accompaniment to important national events.
The prestige of serving directly with the monarch created an incentive for the Household Divisions to become dominated by members of the upper classes, irrespective of their actual skills as soldiers. From this development comes the association of Household Divisions with wealth and discrimination, which persisted until the middle of the 20th century. Today, members of the remaining Household Divisions continue to enjoy a certain social prestige within the armed forces and the state at large, they do, continue to fulfil their ceremonial roles at state occasions, to uphold the more enduring traditions of military service. The household division concept is not applied in Australia. In 2000, during the commemoration of the centenary of Australian federation, the Australian Defence Force established Australia's Federation Guard, which performs commemorative and ceremonial roles of national significance, it does not have a protective role for the head of state. Drawing its members from all three services of the ADF, the guard is the first purely ceremonial unit in the force's history.
The Household Division of Canada performs similar functions to its British coutnerpart, just on a much smaller scale however. There are two Canadian household Foot Guards—the Governor General's Foot Guards and the Canadian Grenadier Guards—while the Governor General's Horse Guards is Canada's sole household cavalry regiment; the three household regiments are all members of the Primary Reserve, rather than regular force units. The armoured Governor General's Horse Guards is the most senior Primary Reserve regiment, while the Governor General's Foot Guards and the Canadian Grenadier Guards are the first and second most senior infantry militia regiments. All three regiments contribute ceremonial guards; the Governor General's Foot Guards and the Canadian Grenadier Guards combine on an ad hoc basis to form the infantry Ceremonial Guard, which today includes in its ranks active and reserve personnel from both the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Prior to 1970, the four regular battalions of the now disbanded Canadian Guards provided the infantry element of the Household Division.
Either the GGFG or the CGG is selected to troop their regimental colour each year at Trooping the Colour on the grouds of Parliament Hill on the Queen's Birthday, or on Victoria Day. Although India is a republic, its history as an empire within the British Empire has left it with a host of institutions of quasi-imperial forms; as a result, the Indian military retains two Household Divisions, despite recognising the authority of no royal household. The Brigade of the Guards is the country's Foot Guard regiment, with special responsibilities to the Rashtrapati Bhavan; the President's Bodyguard, founded in 1773 as the Governor's Troop of Moghuls, was called the Governor General's Bodyguard during the colonial era. It is the country's only Household Cavalry regiment, with ceremonial soldiers on horseback and combat soldiers in armoured vehicles or heliborne roles; the Malaysian Army maintains an administrative Household Division, made up of the Royal Malay Regiment, the Mounted Ceremonial Squadron, Royal Armoured Corps.
The Royal Malay Regiment serves as the Household Regiment of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Raja Permasuri Agong, together with Royal Armoured Corps Mounted Ceremonial Squadron, the ceremonial royal cavalry escort unit. Their responsibilities are at the Istana Negara, Kuala Lumpur as the Royal Household Troops and Guards. Given the large size of the RMR as the senior regiment of the Malaysian infantry, the responsibility of Foot Guards are the permanent duty of its 1st Battalion. In the United Kingdom, the Household Division consists of seven regiments, giving rise to the division's motto of septem juncta in uno: Household Cavalry Foot Guards The seven regiments that form the Household Division in the United Kingdom are all units of the regular army. From 1950 to 1968, the term Household Brigade was used. In 2004, the Minister of Defence announced that the Foot Guards would gain a reserve battalion, the London Regiment. However, the London Regiment is, according to HM Regulations for the Household Division, neither Foot Guards nor Household Troops.
The Household Division and the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery are
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of British Armed Forces. As of 2018, the British Army comprises just over 81,500 trained regular personnel and just over 27,000 trained reserve personnel; the modern British Army traces back to 1707, with an antecedent in the English Army, created during the Restoration in 1660. The term British Army was adopted in 1707 after the Acts of Union between Scotland. Although all members of the British Army are expected to swear allegiance to Elizabeth II as their commander-in-chief, the Bill of Rights of 1689 requires parliamentary consent for the Crown to maintain a peacetime standing army. Therefore, Parliament approves the army by passing an Armed Forces Act at least once every five years; the army is commanded by the Chief of the General Staff. The British Army has seen action in major wars between the world's great powers, including the Seven Years' War, the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War and the First and Second World Wars.
Britain's victories in these decisive wars allowed it to influence world events and establish itself as one of the world's leading military and economic powers. Since the end of the Cold War, the British Army has been deployed to a number of conflict zones as part of an expeditionary force, a coalition force or part of a United Nations peacekeeping operation; until the English Civil War, England never had a standing army with professional officers and careerist corporals and sergeants. It relied on militia organized by local officials, or private forces mobilized by the nobility, or on hired mercenaries from Europe. From the Middle Ages until the English Civil War, when a foreign expeditionary force was needed, such as the one that Henry V of England took to France and that fought at the Battle of Agincourt, the army, a professional one, was raised for the duration of the expedition. During the English Civil War, the members of the Long Parliament realised that the use of county militia organised into regional associations commanded by local members of parliament, while more than able to hold their own in the regions which Parliamentarians controlled, were unlikely to win the war.
So Parliament initiated two actions. The Self-denying Ordinance, with the notable exception of Oliver Cromwell, forbade members of parliament from serving as officers in the Parliamentary armies; this created a distinction between the civilians in Parliament, who tended to be Presbyterian and conciliatory to the Royalists in nature, a corps of professional officers, who tended to Independent politics, to whom they reported. The second action was legislation for the creation of a Parliamentary-funded army, commanded by Lord General Thomas Fairfax, which became known as the New Model Army. While this proved to be a war winning formula, the New Model Army, being organized and politically active, went on to dominate the politics of the Interregnum and by 1660 was disliked; the New Model Army was paid off and disbanded at the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660. For many decades the excesses of the New Model Army under the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell was a horror story and the Whig element recoiled from allowing a standing army.
The militia acts of 1661 and 1662 prevented local authorities from calling up militia and oppressing their own local opponents. Calling up the militia was possible only if the king and local elites agreed to do so. Charles II and his Cavalier supporters favoured a new army under royal control; the first English Army regiments, including elements of the disbanded New Model Army, were formed between November 1660 and January 1661 and became a standing military force for Britain. The Royal Scots and Irish Armies were financed by the parliaments of Ireland. Parliamentary control was established by the Bill of Rights 1689 and Claim of Right Act 1689, although the monarch continued to influence aspects of army administration until at least the end of the nineteenth century. After the Restoration Charles II pulled together four regiments of infantry and cavalry, calling them his guards, at a cost of £122,000 from his general budget; this became the foundation of the permanent English Army. By 1685 it had grown to 7,500 soldiers in marching regiments, 1,400 men permanently stationed in garrisons.
A rebellion in 1685 allowed James II to raise the forces to 20,000 men. There were 37,000 in 1678. After William and Mary's accession to the throne England involved itself in the War of the Grand Alliance to prevent a French invasion restoring James II. In 1689, William III expanded the army to 74,000, to 94,000 in 1694. Parliament was nervous, reduced the cadre to 7000 in 1697. Scotland and Ireland had theoretically separate military establishments, but they were unofficially merged with the English force. By the time of the 1707 Acts of Union, many regiments of the English and Scottish armies were combined under one operational command and stationed in the Netherlands for the War of the Spanish Succession. Although all the regiments were now part of the new British military establishment, they remained under the old operational-command structure and retained much of the institutional ethos and traditions of the standing armies created shortly after the restoration of the monarchy 47 years earlier.
The order of seniority of the most-senior British Army line regiments is based on that of the English army
Palace of Westminster
The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Known as the Houses of Parliament after its occupants, the Palace lies on the north bank of the River Thames in the City of Westminster, in central London, England, its name, which derives from the neighbouring Westminster Abbey, may refer to either of two structures: the Old Palace, a medieval building-complex destroyed by fire in 1834, or its replacement, the New Palace that stands today. The palace is owned by the monarch in right of the Crown and, for ceremonial purposes, retains its original status as a royal residence. Committees appointed by both houses manage the building and report to the Speaker of the House of Commons and to the Lord Speaker; the first royal palace constructed on the site dated from the 11th century, Westminster became the primary residence of the Kings of England until fire destroyed much of the complex in 1512.
After that, it served as the home of the Parliament of England, which had met there since the 13th century, as the seat of the Royal Courts of Justice, based in and around Westminster Hall. In 1834 an greater fire ravaged the rebuilt Houses of Parliament, the only significant medieval structures to survive were Westminster Hall, the Cloisters of St Stephen's, the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft, the Jewel Tower. In the subsequent competition for the reconstruction of the Palace, the architect Charles Barry won with a design for new buildings in the Gothic Revival style inspired by the English Perpendicular Gothic style of the 14th–16th centuries; the remains of the Old Palace were incorporated into its much larger replacement, which contains over 1,100 rooms organised symmetrically around two series of courtyards and which has a floor area of 112,476 m2. Part of the New Palace's area of 3.24 hectares was reclaimed from the River Thames, the setting of its nearly 300-metre long façade, called the River Front.
Augustus Pugin, a leading authority on Gothic architecture and style, assisted Barry and designed the interior of the Palace. Construction started in 1840 and lasted for 30 years, suffering great delays and cost overruns, as well as the death of both leading architects. Major conservation work has taken place since to reverse the effects of London's air pollution, extensive repairs followed the Second World War, including the reconstruction of the Commons Chamber following its bombing in 1941; the Palace is one of the centres of political life in the United Kingdom. The Elizabeth Tower, in particular referred to by the name of its main bell, Big Ben, has become an iconic landmark of London and of the United Kingdom in general, one of the most popular tourist attractions in the city, an emblem of parliamentary democracy. Tsar Nicholas I of Russia called the new palace "a dream in stone"; the Palace of Westminster has been a Grade I listed building since 1970 and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987.
The Palace of Westminster site was strategically important during the Middle Ages, as it was located on the banks of the River Thames. Known in medieval times as Thorney Island, the site may have been first-used for a royal residence by Canute the Great during his reign from 1016 to 1035. St Edward the Confessor, the penultimate Anglo-Saxon monarch of England, built a royal palace on Thorney Island just west of the City of London at about the same time as he built Westminster Abbey. Thorney Island and the surrounding area soon became known as Westminster. Neither the buildings used by the Anglo-Saxons nor those used by William I survive; the oldest existing part of the Palace dates from the reign of William I's successor, King William II. The Palace of Westminster was the monarch's principal residence in the late Medieval period; the predecessor of Parliament, the Curia Regis, met in Westminster Hall. Simon de Montfort's parliament, the first to include representatives of the major towns, met at the Palace in 1265.
The "Model Parliament", the first official Parliament of England, met there in 1295, all subsequent English Parliaments and after 1707, all British Parliaments have met at the Palace. In 1512, during the early years of the reign of King Henry VIII, fire destroyed the royal residential area of the palace. In 1534, Henry VIII acquired York Place from Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, a powerful minister who had lost the King's favour. Renaming it the Palace of Whitehall, Henry used it as his principal residence. Although Westminster remained a royal palace, it was used by the two Houses of Parliament and by the various royal law courts; because it was a royal residence, the Palace included no purpose-built chambers for the two Houses. Important state ceremonies were held in the Painted Chamber, built in the 13th century as the main bedchamber for King Henry III; the House of Lords met in the Queen's Chamber, a modest Medieval hall towards the southern end of the complex, with the adjoining Prince's Chamber used as the robing room for peers and for the monarch during state openings.
In 1801 the Upper House moved into the larger White Chamber.
State visit
A state visit is a formal visit by a head of state to a foreign country, at the invitation of the head of state of that foreign country, with the latter acting as the official host for the duration of the state visit. Speaking for the host, it is called a state reception. State visits are considered to be the highest expression of friendly bilateral relations between two sovereign states, are in general characterised by an emphasis on official public ceremonies. Less formal visits than a state visit to another country with a lesser emphasis on ceremonial events, by either a head of state or a head of government, can be classified as either an official visit, a working visit, a private visit, or a Guest of Government visit. In parliamentary democracies, while heads of state in such systems of government may formally issue and accept invitations, they do so on the advice of their heads of government, who decides on when the invitation is to be issued or accepted in advance. Queen Elizabeth II is "the most travelled head of state in the world," having made 261 official overseas visits and 96 state visits to 116 countries by the time of her Diamond Jubilee in 2012.
Although she is sovereign of each of the Commonwealth realms, in practice, she performs full state visits as Queen of the United Kingdom, while the relevant governor-general undertakes state visits for his or her respective country on the sovereign's behalf. However, the Queen has made some state and official visits representing one of her other Commonwealth realms. State visits involve some or all the following components: The visiting head of state is greeted upon arrival by the host and by his or her ambassador accredited to the host country. A 21-gun salute is fired in honor of the visiting head of state; the playing of the two national anthems by a military band. The guest country's anthem is played first. A review of a military guard of honour; the visiting head of state is formally introduced to senior officials/representatives of the host country and the hosting head of state is introduced to the delegation accompanying the visiting head of state. An exchange of gifts between the two heads of state.
A state dinner, either white tie or black tie, is mounted by the hosting head of state, with the visiting head of state being the guest of honor. A visit to the legislature of the host country with the visiting head of state being invited to deliver a formal address to the assembled members of the legislature. High-profile visits by the visiting heads of state to host country landmarks such as laying a wreath at a military shrine or cemetery; the staging of cultural events celebrating links between the two nations. The visiting head of state is accompanied by a senior government minister by a foreign minister. Behind the diplomatic protocol, delegations made up from trade organizations accompanies the visiting head of state, offered an opportunity to network and develop economic and social links with industry leaders in the nation being visited. At the end of a state visit, the foreign head of state traditionally issues a formal invitation to the head of state of the nation being visited who at another time in the future, would pay a reciprocal state visit.
While the costs of a state visit are borne by state funds of the host country, most nations host fewer than ten state visits per year, with some as few as two. Most foreign heads of state will stay in the official residence of the head of state, hosting the state visit, in a guest house reserved for foreign visitors, or in their own nation's embassy located in the foreign nation being visited. State visits by well-known global leaders, such as Elizabeth II, the President of the United States or the Pope draw much publicity and large crowds; these include protesters. State visits to Armenia are held in the capital of Yerevan, with a welcoming ceremony being held at Zvartnots International Airport. Foreign heads of state are welcomed at the President's Residence while heads of government are welcomed at the Residence of the Prime Minister; these visits consist of the following components: Since 1991, foreign leaders who embark on visits to Armenia have payed tribute to the victims of the Armenian Genocide at the Tsitsernakaberd complex.
During a visit to the complex, most leaders receive a tour of the museum, plant trees near the memorial, lay wreaths at the eternal flame. The Governor General's Foot Guards, one of two household Foot Guards, take part in state, official visits to Ottawa. Arrival ceremonies take place at either Parliament Hill or Rideau Hall, where they will be received by the Prime Minister of Canada and the Governor General of Canada respectively. State visits include a visit to the National War Memorial; the Office of Protocol coordinates the operational aspects of state and official visits to Canada and manages all events that are related to the visit. It defines the protocol standards for state visits of heads of state and government. State and official visits by Canada is performed by the Monarch of Canada or a representative—the Governor General, a lieutenant governor, or another member of the Royal Family; the first state visit by Canada was to the United States in 1937, when the United States accorded the Governor General the equivalent status given to a visiting head of state.
However, the Governor General was not formally empowered to represent Canada for state visits until 1947, when the Letters Patent came into effect. Tours of Canada by the Monarch of Canada (and othe
United Kingdom
British Army
