Queen's Regiment | |
---|---|
Active | 31 December 1966 – 9 September 1992 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Branch | British Army |
Type | Line Infantry |
Role | 1st Battalion 2nd Battalion 3rd Battalion 4th Battalion 5th Battalion – TA Reserve 6th Battalion – TA Reserve 7th Battalion – TA Reserve 8th Battalion – TA Reserve |
Size |
Four regular battalions Four territorial battalions |
Part of | Queen's Division |
Motto(s) | Unconquered I Serve |
March | Quick – Soldiers of the Queen Slow – The Caledonian |
Anniversaries |
Sobraon (10 February), Albuhera (16 May), Glorious First of June, Sevastopol (8 September), Salerno (9 September), Quebec (13 September), British Battalion Day (20 December) |
Commanders | |
Colonel in Chief | HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark |
Four regular battalions
The Queen's Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1966 through the amalgamation of the four regiments of the Home Counties Brigade. In turn, the regiment became part of Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment in a further amalgamation with the Royal Hampshire Regiment in 1992.
The regiment was formed as a 'large regiment' on 31 December 1966 by the amalgamation of the four remaining regiments of the Home Counties Brigade as a consequence of the Defence Review of 1957. The four regiments formed four battalions, retaining their previous names in the titles. These were:
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 anti-terrorist operations against the numerous paramilitary organisations. For example elements of the 1st battalion were almost continuously deployed to Northern Ireland between August 1969 and November 1976.
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 United Kingdom 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 perceived threat of war with Guatemala, a neighbour of Belize, which was making claims that it believed Belize to be an integral part of Guatemala.