Grenadier Guards march alongside French allies for first time in 22 years on Bastille Day

Soldiers from the Grenadier Guards have marched alongside their French counterparts at the Bastille Day parade in Paris.

The infanteers paraded with soldiers from the 1er Régiment de la Garde Républicaine for the first time since 2004, with the two regiments paired together under the Bonds of Friendship initiative.

Held on 14 July every year, the ceremonial event commemorates the first anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille in 1789, which served as a turning point in the French Revolution.

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Joined in ceremony 

Both regiments carry out ceremonial, protective and operational duties.

The Grenadier Guards - the British Army's most senior infantry regiment - protects the Royal Palaces and deploys on operations, while the Garde Républicaine provides presidential escorts and guards 12 key sites in Paris.

This year's parade saw the guardsmen appear alongside forces from around 30 nations, including Ukraine, making it one of the most internationally significant Bastille Day celebrations in recent memory.

Alongside UK sailors, aviators and cadets, it was the largest British contribution to the parade since 2004, when UK personnel led the march for the centenary of the Entente Cordiale, which helped pave the way for the strengthening of Anglo-French relations.

Longstanding exchange 

Officer cadets from Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth marched with French navy cadets from the École Navale near Brest, highlighting the recently established twinning agreement between the colleges.

A Royal Navy exchange officer based at the École Navale also took part, reflecting wider institutional links through the Royal Navy Personnel Exchange Programme.

Since the 2010 Lancaster House Treaty, which aimed to improve collective defence capability between the two nations, the programme has grown significantly, with 13 Royal Navy personnel now embedded across the French navy.

Other personnel train French submarine crews, work in aviation, personnel, support and operations headquarters, and advise the strategic policy office of the French navy's Chief of Staff.

French personnel hold reciprocal posts across the Royal Navy and wider UK defence.

British forces have appeared on the Champs-Élysées on only a handful of occasions, most notably in 1919 and 1939, making this a rare and historic moment in the two nations' shared military history.

The parade also featured a flypast by French aerobatic display team Patrouille de France, with the team's Alpha Jets flanked on either side by Mirage 2000Bs piloted by Franco-Ukrainian crews.