THE PRINCESS OF WALES'S ROYAL REGIMENT
(QUEEN'S AND ROYAL HAMPSHIRES)
1992 TO DATE

Privates in DPM combat dress with 1990s pattern camouflaged web equipment. One wears chest rig equipment with Northern Ireland Body Armour worn underneath the combat jacket. Both are armed with the SA80 Individual Weapon.

The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment is today’s infantry regiment of Surrey. It is also the local regiment of Kent, Sussex, Middlesex, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands. It has two regular battalions (1st and 2nd), one Territorial Army Battalion (the 3rd) and two additional TA companies based at Portsmouth (within the Royal Rifle Volunteers) and Edgeware (within the London Regiment).

Sobraon Sergeant in Number One Dress with The Regimental Colour.

The latest amalgamation took place as a result of the end of the Cold War and amidst general large reductions within the British Army’s strength. Thus, in 1992, the new Regiment was formed from the amalgamation of The Queen’s Regiment and The Royal Hampshire Regiment. The 9th September was the founding date chosen, as it was the anniversary of the landings at Salerno, when both the Queen’s and Hampshires were heavily committed. On amalgamation, the 5th and 6/7th TA Battalions rebadged to the new Regiment, but in 1999, as the TA Infantry was reduced from thirty-three battalions to fifteen, they merged to form the new 3rd Battalion.

Operational experience has continued to develop in a very short space of time, as both regular battalions have again served a number of times in Northern Ireland. They have also gained the additional experience of service in Rwanda, Kosovo and Bosnia, where again they have been helping to placate diverse antagonistic populations. In these latter roles, they have been equipped with Warrior and Saxon armoured vehicles. Territorial soldiers have also had the opportunities to deploy on these operations, as individuals, in support to their Regular cousins.

The first Colonel-in-Chief of The Regiment was Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales, who had been the Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Hampshire Regiment. However, the new title was not unknown; it had also been used by The Queen’s in the early eighteenth century, when the Regiment was known as Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales’s Own Regiment of Foot. She was succeeded by Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, who had previously been The Allied Colonel-in-Chief of the new Regiment and had been the last Colonel-in-Chief of The Queen’s Regiment (the historical connection coming from The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)).

The new regiment has continued to maintain the traditions of the past, whilst establishing a sound professional reputation in its new guise. It is particularly proud to uphold the traditions and standards set by its forebears from Surrey.