Glenn Røkeberg’s monochrome book reveals life inside the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment

Glenn Røkeberg’s Trusted Guardians: Inside the Mounted Regiment is built on nearly two years inside the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, and that patience is what makes the book land. Instead of stopping at the polished ceremonial surface most people associate with the unit, Røkeberg followed the early-morning training, the stable routines, the maintenance of horses and equipment, and the quiet preparation that happens before the regiment rides into central London.

That shift matters because the Household Cavalry is not just a spectacle. It is the union of the British Army’s two most senior regiments, The Life Guards and The Blues & Royals, and it is split between the Household Cavalry Regiment, the operational armoured reconnaissance unit based at Wing Barracks in Wiltshire, and the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, the ceremonial arm at the center of London life. The Mounted Regiment performs the daily King’s Life Guard at Horse Guards every day, whatever the weather, with the guard change taking place three times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, riding down from Hyde Park Barracks in Knightsbridge.

Røkeberg’s monochrome treatment is doing real work here, not just adding a classic look. Black and white pushes the pictures away from postcard pageantry and toward posture, repetition and labor. You start to notice the weight of tack, the rhythm of drills, the line of a horse held in place, and the way ceremony is built on a long chain of unglamorous tasks. The publisher describes the project as a study of the regiment in training, recreation and ceremonial splendour, which is exactly the balance that makes the book feel like a serious documentary record rather than a coffee-table salute.

The book itself has the right physical heft for that approach. It was published by Unicorn Publishing Group in April 2026 as a hardback of more than 300 pages, with design by Matthew Wilson. That scale gives Røkeberg room to let the work breathe, which is essential for a subject like this, where trust and repetition are the whole story. The Household Cavalry’s own history materials say the regiment has taken part in every major conflict since 1660, and that long military lineage sits beneath every mounted duty at Horse Guards. Røkeberg’s book does the hard part well: it shows how a regiment known for ceremony is held together by routine, discipline and years of access that had to be earned one frame at a time.