King’s Royal Rifle Corps

62nd (Royal American) Regiment 60th (Royal American) Regiment Duke of York's Own Rifle Corps King's Royal Rifle Corps
Cap badge of the King's Royal Rifle Corps
Active	1756–1966
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Rifles
Role	Light infantry
Size	4 Battalions in Peacetime (28 during the Great War)
Garrison/HQ	Peninsula Barracks, Winchester
Nickname(s)	60th Rifles, Royal Americans
Motto(s)	Celer et Audax (Swift and Bold)
March	Quick March- Lützow's Wild Chase Slow March- The Duke of York Double March- The Road to the Isles/Monymusk The KRRC's music traditions
Anniversaries	Christmas Day (Formation)
Engagements	French and Indian War American Revolutionary War Napoleonic Wars Anglo-Egyptian War Second Boer War First World War Second World War

The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment (also known as the Royal Americans) in the Seven Years' War and for Loyalist service in the American Revolutionary War. Later, ranked as the 60th Regiment of Foot, the regiment served for more than 200 years throughout the British Empire. In 1958, the regiment joined the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and the Rifle Brigade in the Green Jackets Brigade and in 1966 the three regiments were formally amalgamated to become the Royal Green Jackets. The KRRC became the 2nd Battalion Royal Green Jackets. On the disbandment of 1/RGJ in 1992, the RGJ's KRRC battalion was redesignated as 1/RGJ, eventually becoming 2/RIFLES in 2007.

The King's Royal Rifle Corps was raised in the American colonies in 1756 as the 62nd (Royal American) Regiment to defend the thirteen colonies against attack by the French and their Native American allies. After Braddock's defeat in 1755, royal approval for a new regiment, as well as funds, were granted by parliament just before Christmas 1755 – hence the regiment's traditional birthday of Christmas Day. However, parliamentary delays meant that it was 4 March 1756 before a special act of parliament created four battalions of 1,000 men each to include foreigners for service in the Americas.

A regimental history compiled in 1879 by a captain in the Kings Royal Rifle Corps, states that, in November 1755, Parliament voted the sum of £81,000 for the purpose of raising a regiment of four battalions, each one thousand strong, for service in British North America. Parliament approved “An Act to enable His Majesty to grant commissions to a certain number of foreign Protestants, who have served abroad as officers or engineers, to act and rank as officers or engineers in America only under certain restrictions and regulations.” The Earl of Loudoun, who as commander-in-chief of the Forces in North America, was appointed colonel-in-chief of the regiment. About fifty officers’ commissions were given to Germans and Swiss, and none were allowed to rise above the rank of lieutenant-colonel.