Facts: The Life Guard
The Life Guard traces its ancestry to the 16 men who were assigned by the Dalkarls to protect Gustav Vasa on January 14, 1521 during the rebellion against the Danish king Christian II. It is considered one of the world’s oldest associations.
In 1523, the same year that Gustav Vasa became king, the bodyguard was expanded and then went under the name of the Royal Majesty’s Drabants. In 1527 the force consisted of 23 jacks, 15 of them Germans.
In 2000, the infantry unit Svea livgarde merged with the cavalry unit Livgardet’s Dragoons and formed what is now called the Life Guard.
The regiment’s headquarters is in Kungsängen outside Stockholm and has a workforce of 1,600 people.
Source: The Swedish Armed Forces
The parade starts from Medborgarplatsen on Södermalm in Stockholm and then follows the same route Gustav Vasa traveled towards the castle after he was appointed king in Strängnäs in 1523.
The responsibility for the high guard, which these days is shared among all units within the Armed Forces, will on Midsummer’s Day lie with the jubilee Life Guard, the Armed Forces states.
The guard parade departs at 12.50 on Midsummer’s Day in the direction of the castle. Before that, at 11.30 a.m., a procession staging Gustav Vasa’s original entry – with around 250 people in period clothes – will depart from the same place
“When we celebrated 450 years, a big anniversary was also carried out and there were huge prints in the newspapers. It was only months before our current king had to step up and shoulder the role of Sweden’s monarch,” says lieutenant colonel Richard Beck-Friis in a written statement.
The navy band provides the music.