Blues and Royals

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=The Blues and Royals
(Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons)


caption=Cap Badge of the Blues and Royals
dates=23 March 1969-Present
country=United Kingdom
branch=Army
type=Household Cavalry
role=Formation Reconnaissance/Ceremonial
size=Three squadrons
command_structure=Household Cavalry
current_commander=
garrison=RHQ - London
Regiment - Windsor/London
ceremonial_chief=HM The Queen
ceremonial_chief_label=Colonel-in-Chief
colonel_of_the_regiment=HRH The Princess Royal, LG, LT, GCVO
nickname=
motto="Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense" (Shame on him who thinks this evil)
colors=
identification_symbol=
identification_symbol_label=Tactical Recognition Flash
identification_symbol_2=Waterloo Eagle
from Royal Dragoons (1st Dragoons)
identification_symbol_2_label=Sleeve Badge
identification_symbol_4=RHG/D
identification_symbol_4_label=Abbreviation
march=Quick - "Quick March of the Blues and Royals"
Slow - "Slow March of the Blues and Royals"
Trot Past - "Keel Row"
notable_commanders=
anniversaries=The Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons) (RHG/D) is a cavalry regiment of the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry.

The regiment was formed in 1969 from the merger of The Royal Horse Guards, which was known as "The Blues" or "The Oxford Blues", and The Royal Dragoons, which was known as "The Royals".Since then, the new regiment has served in Northern Ireland, Germany and Cyprus. During the Falklands War of 1982, the regiment provided the two armoured reconnaissance troops. The regiment also had a squadron on operational duty with the United Nations in Bosnia in 1994/1995.

As a result of the Options for Change Review in 1991, the Blues and Royals formed a union for operational purposes with the Life Guards as the Household Cavalry Regiment. However they each maintain their regimental identity, with distinct uniforms and traditions, and their own colonel. The Blues and Royals currently has two reconnaissance squadrons in Windsor, which are part of the Household Cavalry Regiment, and a mounted squadron in London as part of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment.

The Blues and Royals is one of two regiments of the Household Division that can trace its lineage back to the New Model Army, the other being the Coldstream Guards.

The Colonel-in-Chief is Her Majesty The Queen and the Colonel is HRH The Princess Royal. Both HRH Prince William of Wales and HRH Prince Harry of Wales joined the regiment as cornets in 2006.

Battle honours

*Tangier 1662-1680, Dettigen, Warburg, Beaumont, Willems, Fuentes d'Onor, Peninsula, Waterloo, Balaclava, Sevastopol, Tel el Kebir, Egypt 1882, Relief of Ladysmith, South Africa 1899-1902

*The Great War: Mons, Le Cateau, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Messines 1914, Armentieres 1914, Ypres 1914, Langemarck 1914, Gheluvelt, Nonne Bosschen, St Julien, Ypres 1915, Frezenberg, Loos, Arras 1917, Scarpe 1917, Ypres 1917, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle, Passchendaele, Somme 1918, St Quentin, Avre, Amiens, Hindenburg Line, Beaurevoir, Cambrai 1918, Sambre, Pursuit to Mons, France and Flanders 1914-1918

*The Second World War: Mont Pincon, Souleuvre, Noireau Crossing, Amiens 1944, Brussels, Neerpelt, Nederrijn, Lingen, Veghel, Nijmegen, Rhine, Bentheim, North West Europe 1944-1945, Baghdad 1941, Iraq 1941, Palmyra, Syria 1941, Msus, Gazala, Knightbridge, Defence of Alamein Line, El Alamein, El Agheila, Advance on Tripoli, North Africa 1941-1943, Sicily 1943, Arezzo, Advance to Florence, Gothic Line, Italy 1943-1944

*Falkland Islands 1982, Iraq 2003¹

* 1 - Awarded jointly to The Life Guards and The Blues and Royals, as the Household Cavalry Regiment.

Alliances

*CAN - The Royal Canadian Dragoons
*CAN - The Governor General's Horse Guards

Affiliated Yeomanry

*The Kent and Sharpshooters Yeomanry

Order of Precedence

References

External links

* [http://www.householdcavalrymuseum.org.uk/ Household Cavalry Website]
* [http://www.army.mod.uk/armcorps/royblues/ British Army webpage] Navbox
name = British Army Household Cavalry and Royal Armoured Corps Regiments
title = British Army Household Cavalry and Royal Armoured Corps Regiments


list1 =

Life Guards • Blues and Royals • Household Cavalry Regiment • Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment • 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards • Royal Scots Dragoon Guards • Royal Dragoon Guards • Queen's Royal Hussars • 9th/12th Royal Lancers • King's Royal Hussars • Light Dragoons • Queen's Royal Lancers • 1st Royal Tank Regiment• 2nd Royal Tank Regiment • Royal Yeomanry • Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry • Royal Wessex Yeomanry• Queen's Own Yeomanry