Band of the Welsh Guards The Band of the Welsh Guards is the youngest of the five bands in the Foot Guards Regiment s in the Household Division which primarily guards the British monarch . Band membership duties . Musicians currently in the band have secondary roles in the British Army as Chemical Decontamination Assistants , Medics and Drivers . The band is based at Wellington barracks in St James ' s London . Regimental Marches . The Regimental Quick March is the " Rising of the Lark " . The Regimental Slow March is " Men of Harlech " , History . The Welsh Guards Band was formed in 1915 , the same year as the regiment . Unlike other Guards Bands such as that of the Grenadier Guards , the band consisted of 45 people , including a Warrant Officer at the time of its inception , with the instruments having been bought by funds provided by the City of Cardiff . Because the Welsh Guards Band was formed hundreds of years after military music for ceremonial purpose first arose , high standards had already been set by other Guards ensembles . They first publicly performed proving their worth on March 1 , 1916 , when they Mounted the King ' s Guard . The Welsh Guards Band started its touring career in 1917 , early after its formation . In recent years tours have taken the band to European countries such as Belgium and Spain ; North America , with tours to the United States and Canada , and a recent tour to Egypt took the band to northern Africa . The band ' s first commissioned Bandmaster ; Lieutenant Harris ; was gazette d on March 1 , 1919 , to the rank of Lieutenant , after serving with the band in his original position for nearly four years . He remained linked with the band until his retirement . By 1948 there was a new bandmaster , Leslie Statham who was famed for his compositional prowess by both his real name , and his assumed name Arnold Steck . Under his leadership the band played extensively in Canada to large numbers of people , possibly well over one million , whilst performing hundreds of different items . It is thought that this was off the back of the fact that the Bandmaster had performed at venues visited by the band before as a soloist from the Army School of Music Band , at Kneller Hall . Busy Canadian touring was the start of a long tradition of visiting other countries to play . The most notable tour after this one however , was in 1965 , where they visited Milan , to play at " British Week " , and were accompanied by the " Pipes , Drums and Dancers " of the Scots Guards for a long tour to America two years later . The band was honoured with playing at the Investiture of Prince Charles as Prince of Wales . In the early 1970s , at the Band ' s pinnacle of success so far , in fields such as record contracts and appearances at sporting events , Major Desmond Walker died suddenly only weeks before the Band ' s planned departure for another Canadian and USA tour . The Tour went ahead as a new Director of Music was hastily appointed in the form of Captain Derek Taylor . During the 1980s the band continued to tour and to build on its successes , touring to Seattle , Australia , Japan , and Paris amongst other places . In 1990 , the Welsh Guards Band had its first ever Director of Music , to be promoted to the rank of Lieutenant - Colonel who two years later gained an MBE , and retired in 1993 , as the last National Serviceman in Army Music . The Current Director of Music was appointed to the Welsh Guards after serving with a number of other bands in 2005 and has earnt the Alf Young Memorial Prize for Best Church Service , whilst on his Student Bandmasters ' Course . In 2007 , the band famously played The Imperial March , Darth Vader ' s theme from Star Wars to greet Saudi Arabia ' s King Abdullah on a state visit to the UK . Ensembles . There are several ensembles within the band of the Welsh Guards : Events . The band of the Welsh Guards plays regularly for occasions and events . Some of these events that are most famous are listed below , although this is not a comprehensive list . The band also performs at other non - military events .