Royal Yeomanry

The Royal Yeomanry
Cap badge of the Royal Yeomanry
Active	1 April 1967–
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Yeomanry
Role	Light Cavalry
Size	One Regiment
Part of	Royal Armoured Corps
Garrison/HQ	RHQ – London C&S Squadron – Fulham A Squadron – Nottingham B Squadron – Dudley C Squadron – Croydon C Squadron Detachment – Windsor D Squadron – Telford E Squadron – Leicester Band - London
March	The Farmers Boy
Engagements	Iraq 2003
Commanders
Current commander	Lt Col Conn MacEvily
Royal Honorary Colonel	HRH Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy LG GCVO
Honorary Colonel	Lt-General Sir BWB White-Spunner KCB CBE
Insignia
Tactical Recognition Flash

The Royal Yeomanry (RY) is the senior reserve light cavalry regiment of the Army Reserve. The Regimental Headquarters is located at Fulham in London, with Squadrons spread amongst London and the Midlands at Nottingham, Dudley, Croydon, Windsor, Telford & Leicester. The regiment is part of the Royal Armoured Corps and is paired with the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards.

The Royal Yeomanry was formed in 1967, following the amalgamation of six distinguished county yeomanry regiments, as a medium reconnaissance regiment equipped with armoured cars. It continued in this role until 1996, when it became the British Army's NBC defence regiment. It served exclusively in this role until 1999, when the Joint NBC Regiment was formed.

Two of the Royal Yeomanry's squadrons (A and W) were retained in the NBC role to provide reserves for front line NBC troops. The remaining three converted to Challenger 2 to serve as reserves for armoured regiments. In January 2003, A and W Squadrons were mobilised for Operation TELIC, the war in Iraq. The two squadrons were amalgamated with a number of augmentees from the other three squadrons and from the Royal Logistic Corps to form a much-enlarged "Y" Squadron of the Joint NBC Regiment. This was the first deployment of a formed TA unit (TA soldiers under TA command) for combat operations since the Suez crisis in 1956. During the war, officers and soldiers of the Royal Yeomanry found themselves serving with 16 Air Assault Brigade, 7 Armoured Brigade (the Desert Rats) and 3 Commando Brigade as NBC specialists, before switching roles to infantry peace support operations once Saddam Hussein’s regime had collapsed.