Why no British Swiss Guard?

So I was doing some research for my TL, Reign of the Miracle King (shameless plug) on the French army during the Restoration and stumbled on something a bit odd. Nearly every European court, from Portugal to Austria, at one point or another had a Swiss Guard Regiment. Everyone except Britain. Is there a reason that the British never hired a Swiss Guard regiment?
 
Problems with foreign troops (tangled with "standing armies" too) on British soil, I think, but that's more speculation than a hard argument.
 
Problems with foreign troops (tangled with "standing armies" too) on British soil, I think, but that's more speculation than a hard argument.

Makes since but its still so weird. I mean in the 18th century Britain had Dutch and German regiments stationed at home, so to say, but no Swiss. Though with their standing army problem I can see why they would be against it. Though on the flip side I can see the early Hanovarians something stupid like hiring Swiss and pissing off the British.
 
Elfwine raises a good point. Through much of British history the British Army has been small and ill-trusted by the common folk. This was especially true after the reign of King Charles I and Cromwell's bloody years in office. The normal peacetime strength of the British Army was usually quite low. In times of war, new regiments could be raised using volunteers from militia forces and new recruits, but these were usually disbanded at the peace.

There is also the simple reality of physical separation. While the British Isles are regarded as European, they are also broken away from Continental Europe by the English Channel, which isn't very wide, but still provides a small level of isolation from Continental trends and traditions.
 
The Magna Carta
King John of England granted the Magna Carta ("the great charter") on 15 June 1215. Leading nobles had demanded confirmation of their liberties and had threatened war if their demands were not met. The King agreed not to confiscate his subjects’ lands unfairly, not to raise taxes without consent, not to imprison a subject without due process and not to employ foreign mercenaries. The Great Charter quickly became the cornerstone of English constitutional government.

Its part of the Magna Carta that the Regent can not employ foreign mercenaries, but by the time it had become popular on the continent to have Swiss Guards for the king there had been the English Civil war insuring that although the army has the Monarch as its head it is Parliment that calls the shots.
 

Flubber

Banned
Is there a reason that the British never hired a Swiss Guard regiment?


Relatively less use of mercenaries for a big part of the Early Modern Period thanks to relatively less fighting compared to Europe? Less discretionary income available to the monarchy and even less after the Restoration? A suspicious Parliament before and after the Civil Wars? It could be combination of many things, each of which was important during different periods, rather than just one reason for the whole period but I cannot help but think economics was an important reason.

William had Dutch troops because he was the Stadtholder there, George had troops from Hanover because he was their king, and those troops were paid for by their governments. Even before the Civil Wars, an English/British monarch would either have to pay their Swiss Guard out of their pocket or ask Parliament for the money.
 
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all good reasons and makes sense. Out of curiosity and for research for a TL Ive been working on and off with, is there any chance that a Jacobite Restoration would employ Swiss Guards? Both as a threat to Parliament and because the Stuarts seemed to be more European then other British monarchs.
 

Flubber

Banned
Out of curiosity and for research for a TL Ive been working on and off with, is there any chance that a Jacobite Restoration would employ Swiss Guards?


I'd think there would be a very good chance of that.

Any Jacobite Restoration will involve France in a big way, financially, diplomatically, and militarily and the French monarchy employed several regiments of Swiss mercenary troops in various guard roles for centuries

I could very much see Louis XIV "lending" the Old and/or New Pretender a Swiss Guard when the Stuarts return to the throne.
 
I'd think there would be a very good chance of that.

Any Jacobite Restoration will involve France in a big way, financially, diplomatically, and militarily and the French monarchy employed several regiments of Swiss mercenary troops in various guard roles for centuries

I could very much see Louis XIV "lending" the Old and/or New Pretender a Swiss Guard when the Stuarts return to the throne.

Agreed, on all points. If the Jacobite leadership did not hire out Swiss mercenary men themselves, the King of France might well loan them a few. This would be especially helpful if they won, as the loyalty of many British units might be questionable at best, and so a few hard-bitten, capable, and most importantly, loyal foreigners would not be a bad idea. Surround the Jacobite throne with Swiss Guardsmen, just in case your surviving enemies get an idea in their heads to try something foolish. Armed insurrection comes to mind presently.
 
The English king was forbidden to employ foreign mercenaries, period: even more by cultural taboo than by written law. Even oversea -the German units used during the AWI were theoretically 'allied contingents'.
It would be extremely unwise for a restored Jacobite king, of already brittle popularity, to have foreign troops (even more so if 'Guards'). Now, since Antiquity the best sources of mercenaries are mountainous, harsh countries where agriculture can sustain only a limited population. Highlanders had a long-standing tradition as mercenaries -older than the Swiss one: Swiss became sought after mercenaries only after crushing Charles the Bold and ensuring their independence (1477), while e.g. the French Garde Ecossaise (later Compagnie Ecossaise des Gardes du Corps) of 'Quentin Durward' fame was raised in 1422 at the very last -the Cent-Suisses were formed in 1497. Thus a Jacobite king would rather have a Highlander Guard -though he would have better to dress it in 'English' uniforms, if in bonnet, short jacket and belted plaid they would be resented as foreign barbarians / invaders by the English population.


George *as king of Hanover* could employ Swiss troops -though having them barracked in London with Guard status would certainly be somehow vetoed by the Parliament. But another difficulty is that Swiss units were not recruited by individually enlisting volunteers, but were raised as formed bodies under the strict legal framework of long-standing contracts (Capitulations) between rulers and groups of Swiss cantons. Most of these contracts dated from the 16th C. (1505 for the Papal Guard); they could be renewed, 'enlarged' by dynastic inheritance (from the Bourbon of France and Spain to that of Naples, from Louis XVI to his brothers the Counts of Provence and Artois) but I'm not aware of totally new contracts during the 18th C.. Thus, unless king Georges happens to inherit a country already with Swiss in its service...
 
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