"Napoleon's Guard Cavalry" Topic

Just a question that occurred to me, does anyone have any information or theories as to why Napoleon did not have a regiment of cuirassiers or armored heavy cavalry in his Guard? It seems like as the Guard Corps grew, the Cuirassiers are conspicuous by their absence.

I don't know. My theory has been that the Grenadiers of the Guard were supposed to be the Heavy Cavalry's representatives in the Imperial Guard, coming from the Cuirassiers and the Carabiniers.

Good question but I think that the cuirassiers were already thought of as elite – plus the Guard did have a heavy cavalry regiment, the Grenadiers a Cheval plus the Empress Dragoons as noted by Bill N

I think I read in "Swords around the throne" that Napoleon did contemplate having a guard cuirassier regiment, with red uniforms instead of the usual blue.

From John Elting's Swords Around a Throne, page 234:

'Oddly, considering the cuirassiers' prestige, he never added a cuirassier regiment to the Imperial Guard (though one does appear in the books and memoirs of some imaginative Englishmen). According to one contemporary yarn, the Emperor did consider doing so and turned the job of designing its uniform over to the famous artist Jacques-Louis David. Having duly pondered the matter, David paraded several grenadiers a cheval dressed in his new creation, which combined the worst aspects of the Middle Ages and ancient Greece and Rome. Even Murat was shocked, and the project was dropped.'

I wonder what the chosen grenadiers a cheval thought…?

Maybe he envisaged making regular use of his cuirassiers so didn't want them sitting around in the Garde bandbox?

Wow must have been an outrageous getup to shock Murat!

Occasionally British assumed the Carabiniers were the Guard cuirassiers, wrongly.

The carabiners were of course senior to the cuirassiers and their pre-1810 uniform was not that dissimilar to that of the grenadier a cheval of the guard. I have a fondness for the older carabiner uniform but it's rare for it to make an appearance on the wargaming table.

>>Even Murat was shocked, and the project was dropped.'

Don't believe I have that in the excellent bio on David by Musee d'Armee.@1980s.

Don't we have enough uniform misconstruction without that!

>>it's rare for it to make an appearance on the wargaming table.

I've had mine for 30-odd years. Not correct figures (made from Gr a Chev mods) so I've a plan for another, 'betterer' uniformed First Regiment. It, like the Guard, will get two entendards in honour of it's role. [The current 'ancients' will become the poor Second].
cheers D

Maybe he envisaged making regular use of his cuirassiers so didn't want them sitting around in the Garde bandbox?

And which 'Garde bandbox' was that?

The Guard cavalry, artillery, Young and Middle Guard infantry was regularly engaged in combat. The Old Guard infantry regiments, up to four regiments total, were usually not engaged, but that's about it.