The oldest British military corps still in existence, it was created by King Henry VII in 1485 after the Battle of Bosworth Field.

Hennell was a lieutenant in the Guard at the time, who discovered that there were no records save for one old order book and miscellaneous papers.

[4]: vii  Extensive modern research[3]: vii-viii  has been done by Anita Hewerdine for her 1998 doctoral thesis The Yeomen of the King’s Guard 1485-1547.

[3] Results of her subsequent research are found in her 2012 book The Yeomen of the Guard and the Early Tudors: The Formation of a Royal Bodyguard (See Further Reading).

On 22 August 1485, near the small village of Stoke Golding, Henry Tudor met King Richard III in battle for the Crown of England.

[5] Three armies met that day on Bosworth Field: Richard, with his supporters, John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk and Henry Percy, 4th Earl of Northumberland; Henry, with his troops under command of the veteran John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford; and the troops of Thomas, Lord Stanley.

This royal act recognized their bravery and loyalty in doing their duty, and designated them as the first members of a bodyguard to protect the King (or Queen) of England forever.

In their first official act on 1 October 1485, fifty members of the Yeoman of the Guard, led by John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, formally escorted Henry Tudor to his coronation ceremony.

The proposal contains this statement for a precedent: the most noble and memory worthy king Henry VII for the better furnishment of his house first established and ordained the yeomen of his guard in their livery coats to wait upon his grace in his chamber, to the great setting forth and honour of his house.

They are signet warrants (signed orders) from Henry to his Keeper of the Privy Seal, granting offices throughout the realm.

[3]: 48 The only accounts which provide a size of the Guard during the early years of Henry VII's reign are Virgil, who gives a total of about 200, and Bacon.

When Prince Arthur was christened in Winchester Cathedral in 1486, five Yeomen of the Guard controlled access to the specially-constructed stage erected for the royal font.

When Princess Margaret was christened in Westminster Abbey in 1489, 120 torches were held in front of the chapel by knights, squires, gentlemen, and Yeomen of the Crown.

During the two-week-long celebration of the marriage of Prince Arthur to Catherine of Aragon in 1501, the Guard is mentioned several times in the herald's record.

[3]: 69 At Henry VII's funeral in May 1509, twelve chosen Yeomen of the Guard, garbed in black livery, carried the royal coffin from the west door of Old St Paul's Cathedral to the high altar for the lying in state.

[3]: 69 There were various annual festivals and special ceremonies in which the Guard most probably participated but for which there are no records earlier than the reign of Henry VIII.

The Whitsuntide feast at Windsor Castle in "honour of God, St. George and the noble Order of the Garter"[3]: 70  is described in detail from May 1519.

Hewerdine quotes the impression made on the Venetian ambassador by his visit to Henry VIII at Richmond Palace in 1515: ... we were conducted to the presence, through sundry chambers all hung with most beautiful tapestry, figured in gold and silver and in silk, passing down the ranks of the bodyguard, which consists of 300 halberdiers in silver breast-plates and pikes in their hands; and, by God, they were all as big as giants, so that the display was very grand.

They are in attendance at various occasions such as at the annual Royal Maundy service, the Epiphany Service in the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace, installations of Knights of the Garter, investiture of the prince of Wales, lying-in-state, the funeral of the Sovereign, as well as all investitures, and summer garden parties at Buckingham Palace.

One of their most famous duties is to perform a ceremonial search of the cellars of the Palace of Westminster prior to the State Opening of Parliament, which remembers the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.

Hewerdine quotes the herald's description: The yeomen of the Guard were clothed in 'large jackets of damask, white and green, goodly embroidered both on their breasts before and also on their backs behind, with round garlands of vine branches, beset before richly with spangles of silver and gilt, and in the middle a red rose, beaten with goldsmiths' work, with bright halberds in their hands'.

These were close-fitting to the upper body, and expanded below the waist into a flared skirt to cover the thighs when the rider was on horseback.

[3]: 66  From this time the Guard began on a regular basis to wear the scarlet and gold livery that is familiar today, albeit the styling varied over the years.

In February 1528, two Yeomen of the Guard and four women were paid 6 shillings for two days work of brushing and airing out the coats.

Another 6 shillings 8 pence was spent for renting accommodations to store the coats and the Guards' accoutrements while they were in Calais for Henry VII's meeting with Francis I of France.

[3]: 68 The senior officer is the Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard, which is filled by the current Deputy Chief Whip in the House of Lords.

Officers ranking below the Captain are Lieutenant, Clerk of the Cheque and Adjutant, Ensign or Standard Bearer, and the Exon.

By the early 19th century the officers of the Bodyguard were wearing red coatees, blue trousers and a cocked hat (much as they do today).

The gold-embroidered emblems on the back and front of the coats consist of the crowned Tudor Rose, the shamrock and the thistle, the motto Dieu et mon droit, and the royal cypher of the reigning sovereign (currently CIIIR for "Carolus Rex").

The item of uniform that distinguishes The Yeomen of the Guard from the Tower Warders is the red cross-belt or baldric, worn from the left shoulder.