Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment
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PWRR redirects here. For the railroad with these reporting marks, see Portland and Western Railroad.
The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshires) | |
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Cap Badge of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment |
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Active | 9 September 1992-Present |
Country | United Kingdom |
Branch | Army |
Type | Line Infantry |
Role | 1st Battalion - Armoured 2nd Battalion - Light Role 3rd Battalion - TA Reserve |
Size | Three battalions |
Part of | Queen's Division |
Garrison/HQ | RHQ - Canterbury 1st Battalion - Paderborn, Germany 2nd Battalion - Ballykelly |
Nickname | The Tigers |
March | Quick - The Farmer's Boy/Soldiers of the Queen Slow - The Minden Rose |
Commanders | |
Colonel in Chief | HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark |
Colonel of the Regiment |
Brigadier E. Richard Holmes CBE, TD, ADC, JP |
Insignia | |
Tactical Recognition Flash | |
Arm Badge | Tiger From Royal Hampshire Regiment |
The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshires) is the senior English infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Queen's Division. It was formed in 1992 by the amalgamation of two other regiments and holds the oldest battle honour in the British Army (Tangier, 1662):
Through its ancestry via the Queen's Regiment to the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey), the PWRR is the most senior English line infantry regiment. The current regiment was named in honour of the late Diana, Princess of Wales. In 2004, it was announced that, as part of the re-structuring of the infantry, the PWRR would merge with the Berkshire and Wiltshire elements (former Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment) of the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment. It was further announced in 2005 that this would not take place, and the PWRR would remain unaffected.
The PWRR serves as the county regiment for the following counties:
Upon its creation, HRH The Princess of Wales and HM The Queen of Denmark were Allied Colonels-in-chief of the PWRR. When the Princess divorced HRH The Prince of Wales, she resigned as Colonel-in-chief and the Queen of Denmark has remained its Colonel-in-chief since.
The Regiment is primarily based in Kent and is comprised of three battalions, 1st Battalion Armoured Infantry (Serving in Iraq and based in Paderborn, Germany), 2nd Battalion (Serving in Northern Ireland) and 3rd Battalion Territorial Army Infantry (Members of which also serving with 1st Battalion in Iraq). There is also a single Territorial Army company, B (Queen's) Company of the London Regiment.
From the end of the arms plot in 2009, the regiment's two regular battalions will be based in Germany (1st Bn) and Cyprus (2nd Bn). The 2nd Bn will rotate this posting with public duties in London, following a deployment to Afghanistan in 2008.
Contents |
[edit] Victoria Cross and other decorations
In 2005, Pte Johnson Beharry of the 1st Battalion, PWRR was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during his unit's deployment to Al-Amarah, near Basrah. This was the first award of the VC since 1982.
Whilst attached to the 1st battalion, Michelle Norris of the Royal Army Medical Corps became the first woman to be awarded the Military Cross following her actions on June 11, 2006.
[edit] Danish Connection
The PWRR is one of only two regiments in the British Army that has a foreign monarch as its Colonel-in-Chief (the other is The Light Dragoons). Queen Margarete II was previously the Colonel-in-Chief of the Queen's Regiment, continuing a tradition in her family dating back to the appointment of King Frederick VIII as the Colonel-in-Chief of The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), one of the ancestor regiments of the PWRR, in 1906.
[edit] Battle honours
- (combined battle honours of The Queen's Regiment, and The Royal Hampshire Regiment, with the following emblazoned:)
- The Regimental Colours1: Tangier 1662-80, Namur 1695, Gibraltar 1704-5, Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet, Dettingen, Minden, Louisburg, Guadeloupe 1759, Quebec 1759, Belleisle, Tournay, Barrosa, Martinique 1762, Seringapatam, Maida, Corunna, Talavera, Albuhera, Almaraz, Vittoria, Peninsula, Punniar, Moodkee, Sobraon, Inkerman, Sevastopol, Lucknow, Taku Forts, Pekin 1860, New Zealand, Afghanistan 1879-80, Nile 1884-85, Burma 1885-87, Relief of Ladysmith, Paardeberg, South Africa 1899-1902, Korea 1950-51
- The Queen's Colours: Mons, Retreat from Mons, Aisne 1914, Ypres 1914 '15 '17 '18, Hill 60, Festubert 1915, Somme 1916 '18, Albert 1916 '18, Arras 1917 '18, Cambrai 1917 '18, Hindenburg Line, Italy 1917-18, Doiran 1917-18, Landing at Helles, Gaza, Jerusalem, Palestine 1917-18, Kut al Amara 1915 '17, Mesopotamia 1915-18, North West Frontier India 1915 1916-17, Dunkirk 1940, Normandy Landing, Caen, Rhine, North-West Europe 190 '44-45, Abyssinia 1941, El Alamein, Tebourba Gap, Hunt's Gap, Longstop Hill 1943, North Africa 1940-43, Sicily 1943, Salerno, Anzio, Cassino, Gothic Line, Italy 1943-45, Malta 1940-42, Malaya 1941-42, Hong Kong, Defence of Kohima, Burma 1943-45
- 1. also emblazoned:
- The Naval Crown superscribed "1st June 1794" - from the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey)
- The Sphinx superscribed "Egypt" - from the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) & Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment
- The Royal Tiger superscribed "India" - from the Royal Hampshire Regiment
[edit] Order of Precedence
Preceded by: Royal Regiment of Scotland |
Infantry Order of Precedence | Succeeded by: Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's Lancashire and Border) |
[edit] Alliances
- Canada - The Queen's York Rangers (1st American Regiment)
- Canada - The South Alberta Light Horse
- Canada - The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada
- Canada - The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment
- Canada - 1st Battalion, Royal New Brunswick Regiment (Carleton and York)
- Canada - The Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment
- Canada - 49th (Sault Ste Marie) Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery
- Australia - The Royal New South Wales Regiment
- Australia - The Royal Western Australia Regiment
- Australia - The University of New South Wales Regiment
- New Zealand - The Canterbury, and Nelson-Marlborough and West Coast Regiment
- New Zealand - The Wellington West Coast and Taranaki Regiment
- Pakistan - 12th, 14th, 15th, and 17th Battalions, The Punjab Regiment
- Royal Navy - HMS Southampton