(Russian, lieb gvardiia), a guard to protect the person of the monarch; also, the designation of elite military units in some monarchies.

In tsarist Russia all guards units were called life guards (for example, the Preobrazhenskii Life Guards Regiment and the Combat Engineer Life Guards Battalion). The designation “life guards” was also added to the name of army regiments under the patronage of the emperor or the empress (for example, the 68th Borodino Life Guards Infantry Regiment). In Germany (until 1918) and in Great Britain some regiments of the cavalry guards have been called life guards.