after the end of the civil war, the moroccan units of the army of africa were either disbanded or returned to spanish morocco, but a select group of soldiers and officers remained on the peninsula, as mounted guards, performing ceremonial functions and providing protection for the head of state. when franco moved his official residence to madrid, the guardia mora followed him, and once established in the capital they came to have a permanent quartering in the palace of el pardo, official residence of the "generalissimo."