Queen's Colour Squadron

The Queen's Colour Squadron, RAF (No. 63 Squadron, RAF Regiment)
Number plate of 63 Squadron RAF Regiment
Active	1960 - present
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Air Force
Type	Force Protection
Role	Public Duties Ground Defence
Size	1 Squadron
Part of	RAF Air Command
Garrison/HQ	RAF Northolt

The Queen's Colour Squadron is the unit of the Royal Air Force charged with the safe-keeping of the Queen's Colour for the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom. Since its formation, it has been manned exclusively by officers and men of the RAF Regiment. It also has a secondary operational role as 63 Squadron RAF Regiment, a Regiment Field Squadron (RFS), responsible for the defence of RAF and other assets on the ground from enemy forces.

In its ceremonial role, the squadron is responsible for representing the Royal Air Force at various significant occasions. The unit has mounted the guard at Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and The Tower of London on several occasions, and has formed guards of honour for various visiting heads of state at Heathrow Airport, near its former base of RAF Uxbridge and its current base of RAF Northolt. The Squadron also handled the coffin of Diana, Princess of Wales on the return of her body to RAF Northolt following her death in Paris in 1997.

The Royal Air Force had a ceremonial drill unit based at the Royal Air Force Depot at Uxbridge in Middlesex since the early 1920s. In 1960, the RAF Drill Unit was charged with the task of guarding and escorting the Queen's Colour of the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom, and renamed the Queen's Colour Squadron. It was a pure ceremonial unit for 30 years, providing the sole escort to the colour, and famed for its displays of exhibition drill, which are performed without a single word of command. However, the Options for Change reforms led to the squadron being given an operational role as a field squadron in addition to its ceremonial role. For this, it was given the 'number plate' of No 63 Squadron, being renamed The Queen's Colour Squadron RAF (No 63 Squadron RAF Regiment).