More Than A New Suit Of Clothes - These two pictures are of the same regiment. The one on the left was taken about five years ago and represented the Royal Gendarmere, possibly the only heavy lancer regiment in existance in Europe at the time. It had served as you see them here for approximately 31 years, but were disbanded two years ago due to service violations as well as (and possibly more importantly) their sponsor, the Duke de le Bret had fallen out of favor with His Majesty.
Recent altercations with the age-old nemesis Ardoberg-Holstein have made it clear to Louis Philippe that holding a grudge may be no substitute for men in the field when the realm (or the royal person) is threatened. His Majesty has graceously agreed to the reformation of the regiment although under another name (as there currently exists another gendarmere regiment). The photo on the left, therefore, represents the newly recruited line cavalry regiment Les Chevalieres d'Isembourg. Their punishment remains obvious as they have now gone from royal regiment to simple line cavalry ("Oh what will father say!"), and their uniform has been reduced to a poor quality infantryman's coat ("How can I show my face..."). They do, however, and to the chagrin of many at the royal court, continue to carry their original colors.....................at least until thir next discipline.
Truth is I never quite liked the regiment in it's original form, but really liked the look of the Suren cavalry trooper on the Stadden horse. So I pried off the lance, loaded up the paint brushes and voila as we say here in the more civilized regions of Europe.

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