We continue our series of Edwardian colour postcards this week with a fine image of a Royal Horse Artillery driver:

In many ways the uniform worn by this driver is very similar to that worn by the Royal Artillery gunner in the postcard we looked at a couple of weeks ago. He wears the same heavily frogged dark blue jacket with gold trim:

There are differences however. Firstly he is wearing knee high riding boots, as required by his role as a mounted driver:

Secondly, he wears a busby, with a red bag and white plume, on his head, rather than a forage cap:

The busby, which is still worn by the regiment today on ceremonial occasions, can trace its lineage back to the Hungarian shako that was traditionally worn by hussars. The bag was designed to be attached to the right shoulder as defence against sabre cuts, although by this date it was purely ceremonial.

This uniform is still regularly seen on the streets of London as it is worn by the ceremonial unit of the Regiment to hte resent day, with the King’s Troop Royal Horse Artillery wearing it on state occasions when they fire their six World War One 13 pounder QF guns for royal salutes.