Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment

Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshires)
Cap Badge of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment
Active	9 September 1992 – present
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Line Infantry
Role	1st Battalion — Armoured Infantry 2nd Battalion — Light Infantry 3rd Battalion — Army Reserve 4th Battalion — Army Reserve
Size	Four battalions
Part of	Queen's Division
Garrison/HQ	RHQ - HM Tower of London 1st Battalion - Barker Barracks, Westfalen Garrison, Germany 2nd Battalion - Dhekelia, Cyprus 3rd Battalion - Canterbury
Motto(s)	"Honi soit qui mal y pense" "Shame on him who thinks ill of it" [1] or "May he be shamed who thinks badly of it".[2]
March	Quick - The Farmer's Boy/Soldiers of the Queen Slow - The Minden Rose
Commanders
Colonel in Chief	HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark [3]
Colonel of the Regiment	Brigadier Richard William Dennis OBE[4]
Insignia
Tactical recognition flash
Arm badge	Tiger From the Royal Hampshire Regiment
Abbreviation	PWRR

PWRR March

The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (or PWRR, also known as 'the Tigers') is the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Queen's Division, and second only in line infantry order of precedence to the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

History

The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment was formed on 9 September 1992 by the amalgamation of the Queen's Regiment and the Royal Hampshire Regiment and holds the earliest battle honour in the British Army (Tangier 1662–80).^[5] Through its ancestry via the Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) (2nd Regiment of Foot), the PWRR is the most senior English line infantry regiment. The current regiment was named in honour of Diana, Princess of Wales.^[6]

The regiment was formed to act as the county regiment for the following areas:^[5]

• London
• Surrey
• Kent
• Sussex
• Hampshire
• Middlesex
• Isle of Wight
• Channel Islands

Upon its creation, the Princess of Wales and the Queen of Denmark were Allied Colonels-in-Chief of the PWRR. When the Princess divorced the Prince of Wales, she resigned as Colonel-in-chief and the Queen of Denmark has remained its Colonel-in-Chief since.^[7]

The 1st Battalion served a seven-month tour of Iraq in 2004 with a second tour following in 2006, and finally a tour in 2009 where the battalion was split between Afghanistan and Iraq (last combat operation in Iraq). Many of the operations carried out by the battalion during the first tour were named after stations on the London Underground.^[8] Elements of 1 PWRR helped train the Iraqi National Army and oversaw the withdrawal of UK Forces from Basra.^[9] 1st Battalion was deployed to Afghanistan again in August 2011 to form the nucleus of the Police Mentoring Advisory Group (PMAG) with individual companies detached to other battlegroups around Helmand province.^[10] The 1st Battalion under Army 2020 will move from Paderborn, Germany to be stationed at Bulford Camp.^[11][12][13]

The regiment's 2nd Battalion were based in Shackleton Barracks, Northern Ireland, the last resident battalion deployed in this role under Operation Banner. After two years at Alexandria Barracks in Dhekelia in Cyprus, they moved to Woolwich Garrison, London, to take up a public duties role in August 2010, a role they performed for three years.^[14] 2nd Battalion deployed to Cyprus again in 2014.^[15] It remains one of the infantry units rotating between the UK and British Forces Cyprus.^[16]

Structure

The regimental headquarters (RHQ) is at the Tower of London, whilst the regiment itself comprises three battalions:

• 1st Battalion — Armoured Infantry serving with 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade^[17]
• 2nd Battalion — Light Infantry serving in Cyprus^[18] The battalion will convert to a Specialised Infantry battalion, to provide an increased contribution to countering terrorism and building stability overseas.^[19]
• 3rd Battalion — Army Reserve Light Infantry serving with 7th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters East^[20]
• 4th Battalion — Army Reserve (on 15 December 2016 the Defence Secretary announced that a second reserve battalion of the PWRR would be formed). It will be under operational command of 7th Infantry Brigade.^[21][22]

Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment Museum

The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment Museum is located in Dover Castle, Dover, Kent. Exhibits trace the regiment's history, and include displays of photographs, paintings, weapons, badges, medals, uniforms and regimental regalia.^[23]

Victoria Cross and other decorations

Medals and awards awarded to the regiment's 1st Battalion for their service during operations in Iraq in 2004 included a Victoria Cross, two Distinguished Service Orders, two Conspicuous Gallantry Cross, one Member of the Order of the British Empire for gallantry, ten Military Crosses, and seventeen were Mentioned in Despatches, making the regiment the most highly decorated serving regiment in the British Army at that time.^[8]

Private Johnson Beharry of the 1st Battalion, PWRR was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during his unit's deployment to Amarah, near Basra.^[24]

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 11 June 2006.^[25]

Battle honours

PWRR tiger badge

• (combined battle honours of the Queen's Regiment, and the Royal Hampshire Regiment, with the following emblazoned:)
  • 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
  • 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 1944-45, Abyssinia 1941, El Alamein, Tebourba Gap, Hunt's Gap, Longstop Hill, 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 cypher of Queen Catherine, (wife of Charles II), intertwined/reversed letter "C" at the base of the laurel wreath from The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey), in memory of the raising of the Regiment in 1661 when sent to garrison Tangier, part of Catherine of Braganza's dowery
  • The Royal Tiger superscribed "India" - from the Royal Hampshire Regiment

Order of precedence

Lineage

Alliances

•  Canada - The Queen's York Rangers (1st American Regiment)
•  Canada - The South Alberta Light Horse
•  Canada - 49th (Sault Ste Marie) Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery
•  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
•  Australia - The Royal New South Wales Regiment
•  Australia - The Royal Western Australia Regiment
•  Australia - University of New South Wales Regiment
•  New Zealand - Hauraki Regiment
•  New Zealand - Waikato Mounted Rifles
•  Pakistan - 12th, 14th, 15th, and 17th Battalions, The Punjab Regiment
• Royal Navy - HMS Excellent
•  France - Le 35e Régiment d'Infanterie - Bond of Friendship
•  Denmark - Den Kongelige Livgarde - Bond of Friendship

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment.

• Victor McLaglen

References

External links

• Official site
• British Army Locations from 1945 British Army Locations from 1945
• Princess of Wales Royal Regiment Museum - museum information
• Princess of Wales Royal Regiment Museum - local tourism information
• 6/7 PWRR Regimental Association
• Victoria Crosses