1st Regiment Gardes d' Honneur

The Gardes d'honneur were ordered to be formed on 3 April 1813  and established by decree on 5 April. Four regiments were ordered: the 1st Regiment was based at Versailles, the 2nd at Metz, the 3rd at Tours, the 4th at Lyon. A regiment had a staff of 65 men and 156 horses and 20 companies (paired into 10 squadrons), each of 122 men and 127 horses, totaling 2,505 men and 2,696 horses. Therefore the Gardes d' Honneur added 10,000 cavalrymen to the Grande Armée.  

NCOs were selected from among the enlisted members,. The officers were drawn from those already serving. The regimental colonels were existing generals and the unit's majors were existing line cavalry colonels; other officers transferred into the unit with their existing ranks. Regimental commanders were selected from leading members of the nobility in an effort to attract others of that class.

The lack of experienced NCO's was acutely felt, and therefore the Regiments were associated with existing Cavalry regiments of the Imperial Guard. Although they were thus closely associated with the Imperial Guard cavalry (and often served with them in the field) they were not officially part of that force, though many members of the Gardes d' Honneur considered themselves as such. The Guards of Honour were paid on the same scales as the Chasseurs à Cheval of the Imperial Guard, and the regimental trumpeters wore the sky blue uniforms of the Imperial Guard. They were therefore "in the Guard, but not of it".

The four regiments were distinguished only by the color of the tips of their plumes - red for the first regiment as above, light blue for the second, yellow for the third, and white for the fourth. These are Perry figures.

The 1e Regiment fought at Leipzig, Epernay, Reims, and Coutrtrai.