Female soldiers want army to change the term Guardsmen

Female soldiers serving in the Queen’s elite bodyguard the Foot Guards demand the Army stops calling them ‘Guardsmen’

  • There are five regiments attached to the Foot Guards, all who wear bearskin hats
  • The regiments are the Queen’s elite bodyguard as well as front line soldiers 
  • The Army is considering dropping the term ‘Guardsman’ to become inclusive  

Female soldiers in Queen’s bodyguard have asked the Army to stop calling them men. 

Privates in the Foot Guards are all known as Guardsmen whether they are male or female. 

The Foot Guards has five regiments, the Grenadier Guards, the Coldstream Guards, The Scots Guards, the Irish Guards and the Welsh Guards. All the regiments wear the ceremonial red tunic and bear skin hats when on guard duty outside Royal Palaces. 

Major Lauren Petritz-Watts, pictured, made history last week when she was the first female director of music for the Trooping of the Colour ceremony

The five foot guards regiments of the British Army are easily recognised by their bearskin hats and red tunics. Female privates in the five regiments are still known as Guardsmen

The Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge met this female Irish Guard during the annual St Patrick’s Day parade at Mons Barracks in Aldershot. The army is considering dropping the term Guardsman because of the growing number of women in the regiments

Now the Army is considering changing the name Guardsmen following complaints by female soldiers. 

According to The Sun, one female private said she was ‘so tired of being called a man every day’. 

In a post on the Army Servicewoman’s Network, she asked: ‘Does anybody know if the rank of Guardsman is going to change soon?’ 

Some have suggested using the term Guard, with the Army suggesting they were open to change with their commitment to ‘equality, diversity and inclusivity’. 

Last week’s Trooping of the Colour ceremony featured the first female director of music, Major Lauren Petritz-Watts.  

Since 2018 women have been allowed into combat roles with the British Army.  

The Army said that half of all members of the Kings Troop Royal Artillery are female. The Kings Troop provide cover for the Household Cavalry when they go for summer training in Norfolk. 

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