HRH The Princess Royal attends Laying Up of Queen Elizabeth II Standards at Salisbury Cathedral

Tuesday, 16 September 2025 16:25

Lieutenant General Sir Edward Smyth-Osbourne with HRH The Princess Royal during the service (Image: Finnbarr Webster)

At a special service on Tuesday, 16th September, the two Regiments of The Household Cavalry laid up their current Elizabethan Standards in Salisbury Cathedral.

HRH The Princess Royal, as Colonel Blues and Royals, was in attendance, along with Lt General Sir Edward Smyth-Osbourne, Colonel Life Guards. During the service, the standards – or flags - were handed over to The Dean of Salisbury, The Very Revd Nicholas Papadopulos, for safekeeping.

The Household Cavalry is a union of the two most senior regiments in the British Army, The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals. It is divided into the Household Cavalry Regiment, based at Bulford, and the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.

The service included The Household Cavalry Band and Salisbury Cathedral Choir, with the Cathedral’s Director of Music, David Halls. The organ was played by the Cathedral’s Assistant Director of Music, John Challenger.

Also present were The Rt Revd Stephen Lake, Bishop of Salisbury, Revd Tiann Morgner, Chaplain to the Household Cavalry and Revd Tom Sander, Chaplain to the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.

Lieutenant Colonel (Retd) Ralf Griffin, Regimental Adjutant, HQ Household Cavalry, said, “The Household Cavalry, comprising The Life Guards and Blues and Royals, are immensely proud to be Laying-Up the final set of Sovereign’s Standards presented by Queen Elizabeth in 2014.

"The Regiments have driven their vehicles over Salisbury Plain since training for D-Day in 1944 to currently trialling the new AJAX vehicle fleet for the Army. Since 2019 The Household Cavalry Regiment has been stationed at Bulford, and there can be no greater demonstration of our commitment to Salisbury and Wiltshire than asking the Cathedral to safeguard these sacred symbols of our history.”

The Very Revd Nicholas Papadopulos, Dean of Salisbury, said, “Salisbury Cathedral receives these standards with pride. Symbols of their Regiments, of those who have served under them, and of those who have given their lives for them, they will have places of honour here.

"We are proud to support His Majesty’s Armed Forces and assure the servicemen and servicewomen of today – and all veterans – of our continual prayer for their safety and well-being, and for the peace of the whole world.”