Queen's Royal Lancers

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The Queen's Royal Lancers
Cap badge of The Queen's Royal Lancers.jpg
Badge of the regiment
Active25 June 1993 (1993-06-25)–2 May 2015 (2015-05-03)
AllegianceFlag of the United Kingdom.svg United Kingdom
BranchFlag of the British Army.svg  British Army
TypeLine Cavalry
RoleFormation Reconnaissance
SizeOne regiment
Part of Royal Armoured Corps
Garrison/HQRHQ - Prince William of Gloucester Barracks, Grantham
Regiment - Catterick
Nickname(s)The Death or Glory Boys
Motto(s)Death or Glory
MarchQuick - Stable Jacket
Slow - Omdurman
Engagements Battle of the Boyne
War of the Spanish Succession
American Revolution
Napoleonic Wars
Crimean War
*Battle of Balaclava
Indian Mutiny
Mahdist War
South Africa
World War I
World War II
Iraq War
War in Afghanistan
Commanders
Current
commander
None (regiment defunct)
Colonel-in-Chief HM The Queen
Colonel of
the Regiment
Major-General Patrick Marriott CB CBE
Insignia
Tactical Recognition Flash QRL TRF.svg
AbbreviationQRL

The Queen's Royal Lancers (QRL) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in 1993 and amalgamated with the 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) on 2 May 2015 to form the Royal Lancers.

Contents

History

Queen's Royal Lancers providing security for Operation Eagle's Summit QRL Helmand 2.JPG
Queen's Royal Lancers providing security for Operation Eagle's Summit
Queen's Royal Lancers, in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, 2008. Queen's Royal Lancers-Helmand.JPG
Queen's Royal Lancers, in Helmand Province of Afghanistan, 2008.

The regiment was formed in 1993 by the amalgamation of the 16th/5th Queen's Royal Lancers with the 17th/21st Lancers. [1]

From its formation, the regiment served in the armoured role with first Challenger 1, then Challenger 2. However, in 2005, as part of the re-organisation of the army, the regiment started converting to the formation reconnaissance role, re-equipping with the Scimitar armoured reconnaissance vehicle. [1]

As part of the Army 2020 reforms intended to reduce the size of the British Army in line with the Strategic Defence and Security Review, it was announced that the 9th/12th Royal Lancers would amalgamate with the Queen's Royal Lancers to form a single regiment, the Royal Lancers, on 2 May 2015. [2]

Organisation

The regiment was organised into four squadrons, each of which perpetuates one of the antecedent regiments:

Regimental museum

The Royal Lancers and Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum is based at Thoresby Hall in Nottinghamshire. [3]

Traditions

The regiment's nickname, the 'Death or Glory Boys', came from their cap badge and was known as "the motto". [4] This was the combined cap badges of the two antecedent regiments, and features a pair of crossed lances, from the 16th/5th Queen's Royal Lancers, together with a skull and crossbones, below which is a ribbon containing the words 'Or Glory'. This comes from the 17th/21st Lancers, and was the cap badge of the 17th Lancers (the original 'Death or Glory Boys'). [1]

Battle honours

The battle honours are:
16th/5th battle honours [5]

Combined honours before amalgamation of 16th and 5th Lancers:

After amalgamation of 16th and 5th Lancers:

17th/21st battle honours [6]

Combined honours before amalgamation of 17th and 21st Lancers:

After amalgamation of 17th and 21st Lancers:

Queen's Royal Lancers

After amalgamation of 16th/5th Lancers and the 17th/21st Lancers into the Queens' Royal Lancers:

Alliances

Affiliated Yeomanry

Colonel-in-Chief

Regimental Colonels

Colonels of the regiment were: [8]

Commanding Officers

Regimental Commanding Officers included: [9]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Queen's Royal Lancers: History". Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  2. "Amalgamation". Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 18 July 2015.
  3. "Charge of the Light Brigade bugle stars at new museum". BBC. 26 July 2011. Retrieved 5 June 2018.
  4. "Queen's Royal Lancers Gift Shop". Archived from the original on 5 September 2008. QRL Motto (Cap badge of The Queen's Royal Lancers).
  5. "16th/5th The Queen's Royal Lancers". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 20 December 2007. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  6. "17th/21st Lancers". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 20 January 2008. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  7. "Battle Honour Awards (Operation Telic)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) . House of Commons. 10 November 2005. col. 21WS–22WS. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  8. "The Queen's Royal Lancers". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 26 December 2005. Retrieved 11 February 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  9. Regiments and Commanding Officers, 1960–.