Royal Horse Artillery

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The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) is a Regiment in the British Army. "A" and "B" Troops of Royal Horse Artillery were raised in January 1793 at Goodwood in Sussex by the 3rd Duke of Richmond who was Master-General of the Ordnance to provide fire support for the cavalry. They were joined by two more troops in November 1793. All RHA personnel were mounted - a departure from the prevailing British practice which had the guns being served and drawn by different groups, which restricted tactical mobility.

Today, the RHA is operationally part of the Royal Artillery order of battle; there are currently four separate regiments that wear the cypher (cap badge) of the RHA:

King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery is primarily a ceremonial unit and uses vintage 13 pounder guns for firing salutes. However, it also has an operational role as part of the territorial defence of the United Kingdom. The King’s Troop is located in St John's Wood, convenient for firing gun salutes in Hyde Park.
1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery
3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery (The Liverpool and Manchester Gunners)
- Both 1RHA and 3RHA are armed principally with the AS90 155 mm armoured self-propelled gun.
7th (Parachute) Regiment Royal Horse Artillery - this was formed in 1962 from the 33rd Parachute Light Regiment Royal Artillery and served until 1977 as the artillery regiment of 16th Parachute Brigade. After a spell in Germany as a non-airborne unit it returned to Aldershot where it joined 5th Airborne Brigade and once again assumed the airmobile role. It is currently part of 16th Air Assault Brigade based in Colchester armed with 105 mm Light Gun which is air-dropable from the C-130 Hercules.

Because it is part of the Royal Artillery structure, posting between the RA and the RHA is fairly common. However, within the Royal Artillery as a whole, the Royal Horse Artillery regiments are perceived as being an élite, and being posted to an RHA unit is seen as a significant career advancement.

The Royal Horse Artillery has provided the Queen's Guard on two occasions:

1 RHA - January 1979
7 RHA - March 1989
The King's Troop provide the Queen's Life Guard in Whitehall for three weeks in August every year while the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment goes away for summer training.

[edit] Affiliations

Canada - Royal Canadian Horse Artillery

[edit] Order of Precedence

When on parade with its guns, the Royal Horse Artillery takes precedence over every other regiment and corps in the British Army, and parades at the right of the line. Otherwise, it immediately follows the Household Cavalry.

Preceded by: First in Order of Precedence (with guns)	Order of Precedence	Succeeded by: Household Cavalry
Preceded by: Household Cavalry	Order of Precedence	Succeeded by: Royal Armoured Corps