Civil Guard

gendarmerie branch of Spain's armed forces

Key facts

Abbreviation: GC
Motto: El honor es mi divisa , Honour is my badge
Formed: May 13, 1844
Employees: 91,034 total (2024) and, of that, 81,034 in active service (2024)
Annual budget: € 3.67 billion, 2026
Operations jurisdiction: Spain
General nature: Gendarmerie
Overseen by: Directorate-General of the Police
Headquarters: Calle de Guzmán el Bueno, 110, 28003 Madrid, Spain
Elected officers responsible: Fernando Grande-Marlaska , Minister of the Interior Margarita Robles , Minister of Defence
Agency executives: Mercedes González Fernández , Director-General Manuel Llamas Fernández [ es ] , Deputy Director of Operations

Article

The Civil Guard (Spanish: Guardia Civil [ˈɡwaɾðja θiˈβil]) is one of the two national law enforcement agencies of Spain (the other being the National Police). As a national gendarmerie, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the authority of both the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defence. The role of the Ministry of Defence is limited except in times of war when the Ministry has exclusive authority. The corps is colloquially known as the benemérita (the meritorious or the reputables). In annual surveys, it generally ranks as the national institution most valued by Spaniards, closely followed by other law enforcement agencies and the armed forces.

It has both a regular national role and undertakes specific foreign peacekeeping missions and is part of the European Gendarmerie Force. As a national gendarmerie force, the Civil Guard was modelled on the French National Gendarmerie and has many similarities.