|
The Queens Regiment
Allied Colonels-in-Chief HRH Princess Juliana,
of the Netherlands Origins and Background The Queens Regiment traces its history back to 1661 and is the direct descendant of the 2nd Regiment of foot, later the Queens Royal Regiment of the line. The Queens Regiment took its present form and title on 31st December,1966. The Regiment is "The Infantry Regiment" of South East England, including most of London, and stems directly from the the following county Regiments of Surrey, Kent, Sussex and Middlesex, shown here with the nicknames by which they were affectionately known: The Queens Royal Regiment (West Surrey) 2nd foot ("The Mutton Lancers") The East Surrey Regiment 31st and 70th foot ("The Young Buffs") The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) 3rd foot ("The Buffs") The Queens Own Royal West Kent
Regiment 50th and 97th foot The Royal Sussex Regiment (Duke of
Cambridge's Own) Fighting Record The fighting record of the Queens Regiment is impressive. Battles and campaigns include Tangier 1662-80, the oldest battle honour on any Regimental Colour ; Sedgemoor 1685 ; the Continental War 1689-97 ; The War of the Spanish Succession 1702-12 ; The War of the Austrian Succession 1742-48 ; The Seven Years War 1756-63 ; The War of American Independence 1776-83 ; The French War 1793-1801 ; The Napoleonic Wars 1803-15 ; The Crimean War 1854-56 ; The South African War 1899-1902 ; the two World Wars and finally Korea 1950-51. Since then the Queens Regiment or it's predecessors have been engaged in internal security operations in Palestine, Hong Kong, Egypt, Kenya, Cyprus, Aden, British Guyana and Northern Ireland. VCs 46 Victoria Crosses have been won by forebears of the Regiment, an outstanding record. Regimental Day Albuhera Day, the 16th May, commemorates the famous action at Albuhera in the Spanish Peninsula War when, on that day in 1811, three of the Regiments forebears, the 3rd of foot, the 31st of foot and the 57th of foot played a heroic part in this extremely bloody contest. It is therefore particularly fitting that the Queens Regiment has selected Albuhera Day as its Regimental Day, and it is celebrated in each Battalion. Regimental Marches The regimental quick march is "Soldiers of the Queen". Although this has always been a popular tune it had never been adopted by as a regimental march before the formation of the Queens Regiment. The Regimental marches of our former regiments are nevertheless still played with enthusiasm, which befits great marches.
|