At the Battle of Waterloo, the 1st Foot Guards faced off against Napoleon’s fearsome French Imperial Guard and forced their retreat; a significant victory that contributed to winning the battle overall. It was believed at the time that the First Foot had defeated the French Imperial Guard grenadiers, but this later proved mistaken.
Following the battle, the 1st Foot Guards were officially renamed the First or Grenadier Regiment of Foot Guards. They later became known simply as the Grenadier Guards, one of the iconic regiments in ceremonial dress guarding Buckingham Palace today.
The victory also earned them the right to wear the famous tall bearskin hats. While evidence suggests elite companies within the regiment were already utilising bearskins, the royal decree granted the entire regiment permission to adopt the bearskin as standard formal uniform.
Modern history has established that although the First Foot did triumphantly defeat the Imperial Guard, the specific French columns they routed were actually composed of Chasseursc-à-Pied (light infantry) rather than the Grenadiers.
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