The Queen's Regiment
The Queen's Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army.
History
The Regiment was formed on 31 December 1966 by the amalgamation of the four remaining regiments of the Home Counties Brigade as a consequence of further defence cuts were implemented.
The four regiments formed four battalions, retaining their previous names in the titles. These were:
- 1st Battalion (Queen's Surreys) — formerly The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment.
- 2nd Battalion (Queen's Own Buffs) — formerly The Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment.
- 3rd Battalion (Royal Sussex) — formerly The Royal Sussex Regiment.
- 4th Battalion (Middlesex) — formerly The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own).
In 1967 the 5th (Volunteer) Battalion, a TAVR II (Territorial and Army Volunteer Reserve) unit, was formed to be employed for use with NATO forces in West Germany during tense times in the Cold War. The following year, on 1 July, the battalions discarded their previous regimental identification when the subtitles were omitted.
During its existence, the deployments of the Regiment's battalions were primarily to Northern Ireland (NI), especially during the more turbulent times of the 1970s and 1980s, attempting to keep the peace between the opposing Catholic and Protestant factions, and taking part in operations against the numerous paramilitary organisations: the Regiment lost 9 men during its many tours of NI; however, its battalions did deploy to many overseas postings during the Regiment's existence, including many deployments to West Germany as part of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR).
In 1970 the 1st Battalion joined the Berlin Brigade in West Berlin, a small enclave in Communist-controlled East Germany, leaving in 1972. In October 1972 the 2nd Battalion arrived in Cyprus as part of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNIFICYP), a force intended to prevent conflict from breaking out between Greek and Turkish Cypriots. The Battalion returned to the UK in May 1973. The 4th Battalion was disbanded that year, as with every other 'junior' battalion of the new large regiments. Also that year, the 3rd Battalion arrived in Gibraltar where it remained with the garrison for almost two years. In 1977 the 2nd Battalion arrived in Gibraltar and the 3rd Battalion arrived in Belize, then a British territory, as part of the garrison there to protect it from the perceieved threat of war with Guatemala, a neighbour of Belize, which was was making clains that it believed Belize to be an integral part of Guatemala.
In late 1981 the 2nd Battalion deployed to Cyprus on a 6-month tour-of-duty with UN forces. In 1985 the 1st Battalion arrived in Gibraltar on a 2-year posting and the following year the 3rd Battalion was deployed to Belize on a 6-month tour-of-duty. In 1990 the 3rd Battalion arrived in Cyprus — its last deployment abroad — and returned to the UK in 1992. The 2nd Battalion's last deployment was to Northern Ireland in 1992 before heading to Canterbury, England, while the 1st Battalion had returned to the UK after only a year in Germany. All three battalions were now in the UK, ready to be amalgamated with the Royal Hampshire Regiment, ss a consequence of the Options for Change defence cuts, to form two battalions of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshires).
Other Information
- Alled Colonel-in-Chiefs:
- HM Juliana, Queen of the Netherlands
- HM Frederick IX, King of Denmark (replaced by HM Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark upon King Frederick's death in 1972)
- Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent
- Motto: Unconquered I Serve
- Anniversaries:
- Regiment: Sobraon (10 February, Albuhera (16 May, Glorious First of June, Sevastopol (8 September), Salerno (9 September). Quebec (13 September), British Battalion Day (20 December)
- Marches:
- Slow: The Caledonian
- Quick: Soldiers of the Queen
- Alliances:
- The Queen's York Rangers (1st American Regiment) — Canada (1966–1992)
- The South Alberta Horse — Canada (1966–1992)
- The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada (1966–1992)
- The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment — Canada (1966–1992)
- 1st Battalion, The Royal New Brunswick Regiemnt (Carleton and York) — Canada (1966–1992)
- The Essex and Kent Scottish — Canada (1966–1992)
- The Royal New South Wales Regiment — Australia (1967–1992)
- The Royal Western Australia Regiment (1967–1992)
- The University of New South Wales Regiment — Australia (1967–1992)
- 2nd Battalion (Canterbury and Nelson-Marlborough, and West Coast), Royal New Zealand Infantry (1966–1992)
- 5th Battalion (Wellington West Coast and Taranaki), Royal New Zealand Infantry (1966–1992)
- 12th, 14th, 15th, and 17th Battalions, The Punjab Regiment — Pakistan
- The Royal Sierra Leone Regiment, Royal Sierra Leone Military Forces (1966-?)
- The Royal Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers) — (1966–1992)
Categories: British Army regiments