Maison militaire du roi de France

The maison militaire du roi de France (French pronunciation: [mɛzɔ̃ militɛʁ dy ʁwa də fʁɑ̃s], military household of the king of France) were the military branch of the Maison du Roi, the royal household of the French monarchy.

Until the 17th century's second half, the "Maison du Roi" had — along with the "Cavalerie d'ordonnance", the six "Vieux" and the six "Petits-Vieux" — made up the permanent army of the Kingdom of France.

The oldest of the regiments of the Maison du Roi was the Garde Écossaise, formed in 1440, and traced its ultimate origins to the Scots forces brought to France in 1419 by John Stewart, Earl of Buchan to fight against the English in the Hundred Years' War.

In 1567, during the Surprise of Meaux, the royal family escaped capture by Prince de Condé's Protestant troops through the intervention of the Cent-Suisses.

Unlike the previous companies, officered by powerful nobles and with many nobles in their ranks, the final company of the Maison du Roi was created as an elite force, formed by taking one grenadier from each infantry regiment and making him a mounted grenadier.

The military household played a vital role in the Battle of Oudenarde of 1708, saving the French army from probable destruction.

The first was retained because of its close ties to the Royal Court, the French and Swiss Guards because they comprised the largest, and historically most effective, infantry components of the Maison du Roi.

Following the First Restoration of 1814, the Bourbon monarchy attempted to recreate the Maison militaire du Roi, even re-establishing the mostly-ceremonial units that Louis XVI had disbanded in 1787.

However, there was not sufficient time to raise a new Swiss Guard before Napoleon's return from Elba in March 1815, although the future Charles X acknowledged that the regiment's past services warranted this being done.

The Maison militaire disintegrated during the flight of Louis XVIII to Belgium and only 450 men remained with him to cross the frontier.