** The Queen's Guards of Andor **

"Long white collars hung down over their mail and plate, and their cloaks and undercoats were red ... Each man's conical helmet shone like silver ... Thin red streamers fluttered beneath the heads of their lances ... A cage of steel bars masked each face." <TEotW: 33, 489, The Dark Waits>

"The uniforms of the Queen's Guard include a red undercoat, gleaming mail and plate armor, and a brilliant red cloak. Long white collars hang over the armor, and white cuffs gleam at the wrist. Their helmets are conical with barred visors, and they often carry lances with thin red streamers fluttering from their tips." <RJWoT: 27, 238, Andor>

Elsewhere, their cloaks are called "red-and-white" tabards <TEotW: 35, 530, Caemlyn>, or are again described as red coats with long white collars, though once, "... beneath shining breastplates." <TDR: 39, 459, Threads in the Pattern> This is an error, corrected again a few chapters: the coat/cloak is worn over, not under, the breastplate. <TDR: 46, 534, A Message Out of the Shadow>

When Charlz Guybon's contingent of the Guard arrives from Aringill, we find some variations on an otherwise uniform theme: "Some wore burnished helmets and breastplates or plate-and-mail, but every man had on the white-collared red coat of the Queen's Guard." <KoD: 13, 319, Siege> This variability likely reflects what these soldiers had carried off when they had been discharged or deserted under Gaebril, not any inconsistencies in uniform <KoD: 13, 320, Siege>.

The Lady Elayne Trakand encourages women to join the Queen's Guard. Though the tailoring improves, the uniform apparently remains unchanged: "... women in the red coats and burnished helmets and breastplates of the Queen's Guard ..." <WH: 7, 174, The Streets of Caemlyn> Note that her Queen's Bodyguard is a different entity, altogether.

Though on occasion red is the only color mentioned <TEotW: 40, 602, The Web Tightens>, both red cloaks and long white collars cover the burnished breastplates. Mail sleeves presumably protect the upper arms, as with Whitecloak uniform and armor. Finally, "... conical helmets with barred face-guards ..." again complete the basic description <LoC: 5, 115, A Different Dance>, likely in the style of a basinet with barred face guard.

Swords, possibly all with the "slightly curved blade" of Guardsman-lieutenant Tallanvor's sword <TDR: 46, 537, A Message Out of the Shadow> and lances appear to be carried by mounted Guards; some of the palace Guards are armed with bows and broadhead arrows <TEotW: 40, 602, The Web Tightens; TDR: 45, 523, Caemlyn>. However, it seems probable that all Guardsmen carry swords at the waist, as does Tallanvor. <TFoH: 1, 68, Fanning the Sparks>

"High-ranking officers wear knots of rank on their shoulder, and may wear golden lion-head spurs." <CoT: Glossary, 695; see also TDR: 45, 523, Caemlyn> Guardsman-lieutenant Tallanvor has a single knot of rank; Lieutenant Charlz Guybon has two, on the left shoulder <TDR: 46, 536, A Message Out of the Shadow; KoD: 13, 319, Siege>. Captain Mellar breaks protocol with "six golden knots brazed to that breastplate, three on each shoulder ... [Elayne] had let them pass so far." <KoD: 16, 351, The New Follower> Captain-Generals have four knots; captains are entitled to three. Mellar merely suggests more by wearing them on both sides.

The cloak of Captain-General Lord Bryne is no doubt the usual red, though the cuffs are white and marked with wide golden bands, and the shoulder of the cloak is adorned with four golden knots <TEotW: 40, 608, The Web Tightens; RJWoT: 27, 238, Andor>. Birgitte, as Captain-General under Elayne, appears in a "... short red coat [with] a high white collar, and wide white cuffs banded with gold." <WH: Prologue, 27, Snow>

Note that officer costume changes after Elayne takes the throne, adding "white plumes on his helmet and a red sash across his breastplate ..."; a costume resembling that of the new Queen's Bodyguard <CoT: Prologue, 65, Glimmers of the Pattern>.

As noted, high officers may also wear spurs bearing golden lion-heads, though these are rarely noted <TGH: xviii, Prologue>. Finally, steel-backed gauntlets are at least available to officers <TEotW: 34, 518, The Last Village>.