In the 17th century a grenadier was a soldier assigned to throw grenades against the enemy. By 1672, each French infantry regiment contained a grenadier company. During the 18th century the original function of the grenadier was lost, and since then the name has been applied to elite troops.
The British Grenadier Guards were formed originally as the King's Regiment Of Guards in 1656 by King Charles II in Bruges during his period of exile, after the Civil War had placed Oliver Cromwell at the head of Goverment. The regiment was intended at this time to assist the Spanish army in their wars against France in return for the support of the Spanish in helping Charles recover the English throne, much to the consternation of Charles' French relatives. This inauspicious start - Charles had no money to equip or train the motley force which relied heavily on then widely-mistrusted Irish soldiers - belied the eventual stature of the regiment.
It wasn't until much later, after the Battle Of Waterloo in 1815, that the regiment was officially known as the Grenadiers.
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