Centenary Commemorative Bands (Säkular-Fahnenbander)
In 1835, King Frederick William II introduced a new award to reward regiments that had honorably completed 100 years of service. Practice that was soon followed by other German states.
This reward is a commemorative band made up of two 10 cm black Moaré pieces. wide, and approximately 60 cm. long, earrings from a loop of the same material, the end of both was finished off with thick silver fringes. And all of it outlined by a wide fillet of silver thread. On the left band, below in a box, were embroidered in gold, the initials of the ruler at the time the regiment was founded, then, in silver, the word ERRICHTET (founded) followed by the year of creation. On the reverse, behind the ruler's initials, was his coat of arms embroidered. On the right, or back band, the initials of the king who had granted this reward and behind his initials the year of award.
Las iniciales que podemos ver son las siguientes:
| | Reign | life |
| G.W. | Kurfürst Georg Wilhelm von Brandemburg | 1619//1640 | 13/11/1595-01/12/1640 |
| F.W. | Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg | 1640//1688 | 26/02/1620-09/05/1688 |
| F.III. | Friedrich III. Kurfürst von Brandemburg | Kurfürst: 1688//1701 | 11/07/1657-25/02/1713 |
| F.I. | Friedich I. König von Preussen | König: 1701//1713 | |
| F.W.I. | Friedrich Willhelm I. König von Preussen | 25/02/1713-31/01/1740 | 14/08/1688-31/05/1740 |
| F.II. | Friedrich II, der Grosse | 31/05/1740-17/08/1786 | 24/01/1712-17/08/1789 |
| F.W.II. | Friedrich Wilhelm II | 17/08/1786-16/11/1797 | 25/09/1744-16/11/1797 |
| F.W.III | Friedrich Wilhelm III. | 16/11/1797-07/061840 | 03/08/1770-07/06/1840 |
| F.W.IV. | Friedrich Wilhelm IV. | 07/06/1840-07/10/1858 | 15/10/1795-02/01/1861 |
| W. | Wilhelm I, der Grosse. | *1857/09/03/1888 | 22/03/1797-09/03/1888 |
* | Friedrich III. | 09/03/1888-15/06/1888 | 18/10/1831-15/06/1888 |
| W.II. | Wilhelm II. | 15/06/1888-09/11/1918 | 27/01/1859-04/06/1941 |
It should be noted that the initials F.III. refer to the Malgrave Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia Frederick III., and not to Frederick III who was King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany in 1888, whose reign lasted only three months, and under whom no band was granted. Duke of Prussia Frederick III himself was the first King of Prussia, and as such known as Frederick I.
William I, through an Order of the King's Supreme Cabinet dated 05-15-1885, introduces a new element to highlight the bicentennial, which consisted of including the dates of the second centenary in the upper bow of the band.
In 1899, Kaiser Wilhelm II established a new variant for the centenary bands, by which the original name of the unit should be reflected on the right or rear band. This measure will only affect those granted after that date. But even today we have a big problem when it comes to identifying the original name of the unit. Each battalion traditionally had a different training unit. At the beginning of the summer of 1813, 12 reserve regiments were formed, which later, in the reorganization of the Army in March 1815, were transformed into line regiments with order numbers from 13 to 24. But the name that appears in the bands is not that of these Reserve-Regiments, but that of the units with which the reserve regiments were formed.
In some cases, certain battalions were assigned a founding date, and with that date their reward was granted in 1835. Thus, the following were collected as founding dates of the units that gave rise to the 1st Grenadier Guard Regiment: :
For the 2nd Battalion: 1619 and 1685
For the Rifle Battalion: 1688 and 1690
And these were the dates that appeared on the bands that were awarded to the regiment in 1835. Later, in 1888, it was established that the correct date of creation of the aforementioned units was:
For the 2nd Battalion: 1655 and 1685.
For the Rifle Battalion: 1626 and 1689.
Therefore, new bands were granted with the corrected dates, replacing the previous ones.
