The Republican Guard (French: Garde républicaine, [ɡaʁd ʁepyblikɛn]) is part of the French National Gendarmerie. It is responsible for special security duties in the Paris area and for providing guards of honour at official ceremonies of the French Republic.

Its missions include guarding important public buildings in Paris, such as the Élysée Palace (the residence of the President of the French Republic), the Hôtel Matignon (the residence of the Prime Minister of France), the Luxembourg Palace (the Senate), the Palais Bourbon (the National Assembly) and the Palais de Justice, as well as keeping public order in Paris. Ceremonial and security services for the highest national personalities and important foreign guests, military ceremonies and guards of honour for fallen soldiers, support of other law enforcement forces with intervention teams, as well as staffing horseback patrol stations (particularly for the forests of the Île-de-France region) are also part of its duties.

The close physical protection of the President of the Republic is entrusted to the Security Group for the Presidency of the Republic (GSP), a mixed police–gendarmerie unit that is not part of the Republican Guard. However, the Republican Guard does provide counter-sniper teams (Tireurs d'élite Gendarmerie or TEG) and intervention platoons (pelotons d'intervention). The Republican Guard also represents France at international events at home and abroad.

The Republican Guard is the heir of the various bodies that preceded it in the course of French and Parisian history and whose task was to honor and protect the high authorities of the State and the capital city – Gardes Françaises of the French kings, Consular and Imperial Guard of Napoleon, etc. Its name derives from the Municipal Guard of Paris, established on 12 Vendémiaire XI (October 4, 1802) by Napoleon Bonaparte. This unit distinguished itself in battles of historical significance, including Danzig and Friedland in 1807, Alcolea in 1808 and Burgos in 1812.

In 1813, the Municipal Guard was dissolved following the attempted coup of General Malet and replaced by the Imperial Gendarmerie of Paris and then, under the Restoration, the Royal Guard of Paris and the Royal Mounted Police of Paris. In 1830, it was recreated, but after the Revolution of 1848, it was removed in favor of the Civic Guard (which proved to be a transient institution).

In June 1848, under the Second Republic, the Republican Guard of Paris was created, including an infantry regiment and a regiment of cavalry. On February 1, 1849, president Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte made the Guard a part of the National Gendarmerie. It received its insignia on July 14, 1880.

The Republican Guard did not take part in World War I as a unit, but more than one third of its personnel were seconded to Army regiments for the duration of the conflict. As a consequence, its flag and banner are decorated with the Knight's Cross of the Legion of Honour. During World War II, it reported to the police headquarters and took the name of Guard of Paris. Part of its staff rallied to General de Gaulle, and the Guard was involved in fighting alongside the FFI during the liberation of Paris.

From 1947 to 1954, the Republican Guard took part in the Indochina War by sending three "Legions of March", which were mainly assigned to the training of allied indigenous troops and to the defense of certain places. The three legions, comprising a constant workforce of nearly 3,000 men, suffered heavy losses (more than 600 dead and 1,500 wounded during the conflict), which earned it the Croix de Guerre TOE. In 1954, the Republican Guard was renamed as the Mobile Gendarmerie and the Republican Guard of Paris became the Republican Guard. Both organizations were then and still remain part of the same branch in the French Gendarmerie.