Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment
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The Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army.
The Regiment was formed on 1 March 1961, as a consequence of defence cuts implemented in the 1950s, when The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) and The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment were amalgamated to form the 1st Battalion, The Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment. The following year the Regiment was presented with its first Colours by its Colonel-in-Chief, HM King Frederick IX of Denmark.
In operations, in 1961, the Regiment had deployed to Kenya, then a British colony -- one of its predecessor regiment, The Buffs, had seen distinguished service in Kenya during the Mau Mau uprising. The Regiment to the UK in 1962. In 1964 the Regiment was deployed to British Guiana after more violence broke out there, at a time when the South American colony was experiencing turbulent times. The Regiment assisted in operations designed to prevent the opposing ethnic groups from descending into conflict with each other. The Regiment departed South America for the Far East the following year, joining the Hong Kong garrison. In June 1966 the Regiment deployed on a 6-month tour-of-duty in the jungles of Borneo to take part in the Indonesian Confrontation -- it had started in 1962 after an Indonesian-inspired rebellion took place in Brunei, which was successfully quelled. The 'Confrontation' officially ended a short while after the Regiment arrived; it returned to Hong Kong upon the end of its tour.
In December 1966, while still in Hong Kong, the Regiment, after just over 5-years of existence, was amalgamated with the three other remaining regiments of the Home Counties Brigade to form The Queen's Regiment: the Queen's Own Buffs became the 2nd Battalion (Queen's Own Buffs).
[edit] Alliances
[edit] Other information
- Colonel-in-Chief: HM Frederick IX, King of Denmark
- Colonel: HRH Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent
- Alliances:
- The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada (1961-1966)
- 1st Battalion (Carleton and York), The Royal New Brunswick Regiemnt -- Canada (1961-1966)
- The Essex and Kent Scottish -- Canada (1961-1966)
- The Canterbury Regiment -- New Zealand (1961-1964)
- 2nd Battalion (Canterbury and Nelson-Marlborough, and West Coast), Royal New Zealand Infantry -- 1964-1966)
