Flags of the Spanish Foot Guards "Reales Guardias Españolas" 1750s

There will be a number of extra Spanish flag sets coming along soon, of which this is the first. I was recently commissioned to produce Spanish infantry flags and cavalry standards by Lewis Simpson-Jones. We agreed that I would charge him less for the flag work and he would thus be happy for me to post them on my blog soon! So it is thanks to him that I am able to fill in some of the gaps in the coverage of Spanish flags sooner rather than later... :-)

The Spanish Household Troops included many purely ceremonial units (like the Halberdiers) but only the Spanish "Reales Guardias Españolas" and the Walloon Foot Guards "Reales Guardias Valonas" actually served in the field. Both regiments had 6 battalions each, with each battalion of one grenadier and six fusilier companies. This changed in 1759. In 1762 chasseur (light) companies were added.

The Guards regiments saw much action in the War of the Austrian Succession.

In the Seven Years War the Spanish Guards marched against Portugal with the army of the Marques de Sarria in 1762. Kronoskaf records that the chasseurs of the regiment were posted to protect a bridge of boats on the River Esla where the army would cross.

The flags in the War of the Austrian Succession were slightly more elaborate than these, which represent the flags carried in the 1750s:

And this plate from NYPL (https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47d9-996a-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 ) shows the uniforms as they probably were mid-century: