The Royal Regiment of Scotland
is the senior and only Scottish line infantry regiment of the British Army Infantry. It consists of five regular and two territorial battalions, each formerly an individual regiment (with the exception of the first battalion, which is an amalgamation of two regiments). However, each battalion maintains its former regimental Pipes and Drums to carry on the traditions of their antecedent regiments.
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ROYAL REGIMENT OF SCOTLAND TICKETS
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History
As part of restructuring in the
British Army, the Royal Regiment of Scotland's creation was announced by the
Secretary of State for Defence,
Geoff Hoon in the
House of Commons on
16 December 2004, after the merger of several regiments and the reduction in total regular infantry battalions from 40 to 36 was outlined in the defence
white paper,
Delivering Security in a Changing World
, several months earlier.
The regiment consists of a total of seven battalions: one of these was formed by the amalgamation of the
Royal Scots and
King's Own Scottish Borderers, while the others are each formed from one of the remaining single-battalion regiments of the
Scottish Division. Along with
The Rifles, it is currently the largest infantry regiment in the British Army. Of all of the new regiments formed following the announcement of 16 December 2004, the Royal Regiment of Scotland is the only one where the former regimental titles have been prominently retained with the new numbered battalion designations as subtitles. There is however a common regimental cap badge,
TRF, tartan,
stable belt and
Glengarry headdress but distinctively coloured
hackles are also worn by each separate battalion on the
Tam o' Shanter headdress in order to maintain their individual identity and the pipes and drums of each battalion continue to wear the historic cap badges and tartans of their former regiments. Along with
The Rifles, The Royal Regiment of Scotland is also one of only two
line infantry regiments to maintain its own regular
military band within the
Corps of Army Music, which was formed through the amalgamation of the Highland band and Lowland band of the
Scottish Division. In addition, there are two Territorial bands, The Highland Band and The
Lowland Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, which are administered by the regiment's two Territorial battalions. The regiment also has its own
Parachute Display Team, the Golden Lions
[1].
In 1948, every regiment of
line infantry was reduced to a single battalion. The subsequent process of reducing the overall number of infantry regiments in the Army through disbandment or amalgamation of the traditional
county regiments that were formalised in the
Childers Reforms of 1881 to form larger multi-battalion regiments, has continued to affect most of the
British Army Infantry since the
1957 Defence White Paper outlined the first mergers. The creation of the Royal Regiment of Scotland encountered considerable opposition amongst
former soldiers,
conservatives and
nationalist groups. It has been argued that the establishment of large regiments in the British Army during the 1960s, such as the
Royal Green Jackets,
The Light Infantry,
Royal Regiment of Fusiliers and
Royal Anglian Regiment, quickly led to a loss of separate identity amongst the constituent battalions as personnel were posted back and forward. The new regiment is also primarily a
kilted one and there are concerns that the much older
Lowland units, which traditionally wore
trews, will be effectively absorbed into a
Highland ethos. However, the Ministry of Defence's case that change was necessary in order to enhance operational efficiency through
economies of scale, improve and create more flexible conditions of service and to resolve chronic recruiting and retention problems amongst the eight single-battalion Scottish regiments appears to have been accepted by the majority of serving personnel, and indeed was recommended by the then
Chief of the General Staff,
Sir Mike Jackson. Jackson delegated the decision on how the reduction of battalions would be achieved to the Council of Scottish Colonels. It is understood that at the meeting the Colonels were invited to speak in turn on how the reduction should be achieved.
The Royal Scots Colonel speaking first on behalf of the senior regiment suggested that his regiment should be amalgamated with
The King's Own Scottish Borderers, this suggestion was accepted by the remaining regiments less the The King's Own Scottish Borders whose Colonel petitioned Jackson directly but to no avail. It is thought that the Colonel of The Royal Scots feared that his regiment would be disbanded due to its long term poor recruiting record and high reliance on Commonwealth recruits. The insistence in some quarters that the Scottish regiments must be treated as a special case, similar to the
Guards Division, has not won wide support amongst the army at large.
The amalgamation remains an emotive one however because of the symbolic loss of historical continuity through the individual regimental status of each battalion. An organization called Save the Scottish Regiments
[2]
was created to campaign against the plan, and the influential newspaper
The Scotsman
also opposed it.
The status of the
Black Watch was particularly controversial. When the plan to amalgamate the regiments was announced, the Black Watch was deployed at
Camp Dogwood in a
relatively dangerous region of
Iraq. Hoon was accused by the
SNP of "stabbing the soldiers in the back" and being motivated purely by political and administrative concerns, with little regard to the effect on
morale. This controversy was further exacerbated by the revelation that a former
Colonel of the Black Watch,
Lieutenant-General Alistair Irwin, had originally drafted the
Army Board proposals to amalgamate the Scottish Division
[3].
In August
2005, the new regimental
cap badge was unveiled - it incorporates the
Saltire of St Andrew and the Lion Rampant of the
Royal Standard of Scotland, which are two prominent national symbols. As a Royal regiment, the cap badge is surmounted by a crown, in this case the
Crown of Scotland. The regiment's motto is
Nemo Me Impune Lacessit
(No One Assails Me With Impunity) - which is the motto of the
Order of the Thistle, Scotlands highest
order of chivalry, and was also the motto of four of the pre-existing Scottish regiments. The new ceremonial uniform incorporates elements from most of the former regiments
[4]. For example; the former regimental motto of the
Highlanders,
Cuidich 'n Righ
(Aid the King), has been incorporated in the Royal Scots Thistle pattern
collar dogs of ceremonial dress
uniforms. Also in No. 1 and No. 2 pattern ceremonial dress, all battalions wear a black and white cockfeather hackle attached to a
Glengarry (although described as a Lowland pattern Glengarry, this pattern was in fact also common to the Seaforth Highlanders and Gordon Highlanders as well as the three Lowland regiments), in a tradition taken from the Royal Scots and King's Own Scottish Borderers. While in combat dress, each battalion wears its own unique coloured
hackle on the
Tam O'Shanter:
- 1st Battalion - Black
- 2nd Battalion - White
- 3rd Battalion - Red
- 4th Battalion - Blue
- 5th Battalion - Green
- 6th Battalion - White/Black
- 7th Battalion - Red/Blue/Green
The regiment was initially formed of six regular battalions on
March 28 2006. On
August 1 2006, the Royal Scots Battalion and King's Own Scottish Borderers Battalion were amalgamated into the 1st Battalion,
Royal Scots Borderers, leaving the final regular roll of five battalions. The Regimental Headquarters is located at
Edinburgh Castle, although each regular battalion continues to maintain their own former regimental headquarters and museums within their respective recruiting areas.
Organisation
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All battalions in the Royal Regiment of Scotland, to preserve regional ties and former regimental indentites, took the name of their former individual regiments.
- Regular battalions
- *The Royal Scots Borderers1, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland
- *The Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland
- *The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland
- *The Highlanders, 4th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland
- *The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, 5th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland
- Territorial battalions
- *52nd Lowland, 6th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland
- *51st Highland, 7th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland
Note 1: Royal Scots Borderers
is the name of the combined
Royal Scots and
King's Own Scottish Borderers battalion.
Under the restructuring and the end of the
arms plot
, each regular battalion will be given a specific operational role:
- The Royal Scots Borderers - Light Role (19 Light Brigade) - Dreghorn Barracks, Edinburgh
- The Royal Highland Fusiliers - Light Role (52 Infantry Brigade) - Glencorse Barracks, Penicuik
- The Black Watch - Light Role (19 Light Brigade) - Fort George, Inverness
- The Highlanders - Armoured infantry (7 Armoured Brigade) - St. Barbara Barracks, Fallingbostel, Germany
- The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders - Air Assault (16 Air Assault Brigade) - Howe Barracks, Canterbury
Due to their relatively flexible nature, the three light role battalions will rotate periodically, with either the Royal Scots Borderers or Royal Highland Fusiliers having responsibility for
public duties in
Edinburgh depending upon which one is under the command of
52nd Infantry Brigade at the time. The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders will rotate the air assault role with two other line infantry/rifles battalions in
16th Air Assault Brigade; when it is not in this role, it will serve as a light role battalion in 52 Infantry Brigade. As an armoured unit, The Highlanders will remain in its fixed location as part of
7th Armoured Brigade in
Germany. The two Territorial battalions come under the command of
51st (Scottish) Brigade, the Regional Brigade administering the TA in Scotland.
The regiment's
Colonel-in-Chief is
HM The Queen. The colonels-in-chief of the constituent regiments making up the new regiment have become the
Royal Colonels
of their representative battalions:
- 1st Battalion - HRH The Princess Royal2
- 2nd Battalion - HRH The Duke of York
- 3rd Battalion - HRH The Duke of Rothesay3
- 4th Battalion - HRH The Duke of Edinburgh
- 5th Battalion - HM The Queen
- 6th Battalion - HRH The Princess Royal
- 7th Battalion - HRH The Duke of Rothesay
Note 2: The King's Own Scottish Borderers, now amalgamated with the Royal Scots to form the 1st Battalion, have not had a Colonel-in-Chief since the death of
Princess Alice in
2004.
Note 3: Duke of Rothesay is the title assumed by the
Prince of Wales while in Scotland.
Alliances
The status of previous alliances is unclear at this time, and it is believed that previous regimental alliances will not automatically be carried over to The Royal Regiment of Scotland. It is also unclear if alliances will be perpetuated by single battalions of the Royal Regiment, or to the regiment as a whole. Until the issue is decided, individual battalions will maintain the alliances of their antecedent regiments.
;The Royal Scots Borderers
- - The Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary's)
- - The Royal Newfoundland Regiment
- - 1st Battalion, The Royal New Brunswick Regiment (Carleton and York)
- - 25th/49th Battalion, The Royal Queensland Regiment
- - 5th Battalion, The Royal Malay Regiment
- - The Witwatersrand Rifles
- Royal Navy - HMS Edinburgh
;The Royal Highland Fusiliers
- - The Royal Highland Fusiliers of Canada
- - The Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment
- - 11th Battalion, The Baluch Regiment
;The Black Watch
- - The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada
- - 1st Air Defence Regiment (Lanark and Renfrew Scottish), Royal Canadian Artillery
- - The Prince Edward Island Regiment (RCAC)
- - The Royal Queensland Regiment
- - The Royal New South Wales Regiment
- - The Transvaal Scottish
- - The New Zealand Scottish
- Royal Navy - HMS Montrose
;The Highlanders
- - The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa
- - The 48th Highlanders of Canada
- - The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada
- - The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada
- - The Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's Own)
- - 7th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment
- - 5th/6th Battalion, Royal Victoria Regiment (formerly 5th Battalion, The Victorian Scottish Regiment)
- - The Royal South Australia Regiment
- - The Royal Western Australia Regiment
- - The Otago and Southland Regiment
- - The Wellington (City of Wellington's Own) and Hawke's Bay Regiment
- - The Cape Town Highlanders
- Royal Navy - HMS Sutherland
- Royal Navy - HMS Victorious
;The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
- - The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's)
- - The Calgary Highlanders
- - The Royal Queensland Regiment
- - The Royal New South Wales Regiment
- - 1st Battalion (Scinde), The Frontier Force Regiment
Order of Precedence
|- style="text-align: center;"
| width="30%" |Preceded by:
| width="40%" style="text-align: center;" |
| width="30%" |Succeeded by:
Lineage
|-style="text-align: center; background: #F08080;"
| align="center" colspan="6"|Lineage
|-
| width="20%" rowspan="15" align="center" | The Royal Regiment of Scotland
| width="20%" colspan="5" align="center"| The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment)
|-
| width="20%" rowspan="3" align="center"| The Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret's Own Glasgow and Ayrshire Regiment)
| width="20%" colspan="4" align="center"| The Royal Scots Fusiliers
|-
| width="20%" rowspan="2" align="center"| The Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment)
| width="20%" colspan="2" align="center" | The 71st (Highland) Light Infantry
|-
|width="20%" colspan="2" align="center" | The 74th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot
|-
| width="20%" colspan="5" align="center"| The King's Own Scottish Borderers
|-
| width="20%" rowspan="2" align="center" | '''The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment)
| width="20%" colspan="4" align="center"| The 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot
|-
| width="20%" colspan="4" align="center"| The 73rd Regiment of Foot
|-
| width="20%" rowspan="5" align="center" | '''The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons)
| width="20%" rowspan="3" align="center"| The Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons)
| width="20%" colspan="2" align="center"| The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
|-
| width=20% rowspan="2" align="center"|The Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany's)
|width="20%" align="center"|'''The 72nd Regiment of Foot (The Duke of Albany's Own Highlanders)
|-
| width="20%" align="center"| '''The 78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot (The Ross-shire Buffs)
|-
| width="20%" rowspan="2" align="center"| The Gordon Highlanders
| width="20%" colspan="2" align="center"| The 75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment of Foot
|-
| width="20%" colspan="2" align="center"|The 92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot
|-
| width="20%" rowspan="2" align="center"| The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's)
| width="20%" colspan="4" align="center"| The 91st (Princess Louise's Argyllshire Highlanders) Regiment of Foot
|-
| width="20%" colspan="4" align="center"| The 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment of Foot
See also
- Structure of the British Army and its 2004 restructuring
- Scots Guards
- Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
References
- The Golden Lions
- Save the Scottish Regiments
- The Courier
- Royal Regiment of Scotland - Dress Regulations