Queen's Own Yeomanry
Cap badge
Active1971–present
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch British Army
TypeYeomanry
RoleLight Cavalry Regiment
SizeRegiment
368 personnel[1]
Part ofRoyal Armoured Corps
Garrison/HQRegimental Headquarters - Fenham Barracks, Newcastle upon Tyne
A Squadron - York
B squadron - Wigan
C Squadron - Chester
D Squadron - Newcastle
ColoursPrussian Blue & Cavalry Gold
MarchD'ye Ken John Peel
Commanders
Commanding OfficerLt Col Neil Potter
Royal Honorary ColonelThe Duchess of Edinburgh
Insignia
Tactical Recognition Flash

The Queen's Own Yeomanry (QOY) is one of the Army Reserve light armoured reconnaissance regiments.[2]

History

The Queens Own Yeomanry was initially formed on 1 April 1971 as the 2nd Armoured Car Regiment from five of the yeomanry units across the North and Middle of England and South West Scotland.[3] During the Cold War The Queen's Own Yeomanry was a British Army of the Rhine Regiment with an Armoured Reconnaissance role in Germany. With the Strategic Defence Review in 1999 the geographical locations of the regiment changed to encompass East Scotland and Northern Ireland.[4] Soldiers from the regiment have served both in Iraq and Afghanistan.[5]

Under Army 2020, three squadrons transferred to the Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry and it gained two squadrons from the Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry. The unit is paired with the Light Dragoons and uses the Jackal 1.[6][7][8]

Recruitment

The regiment recruits its soldiers mainly from the following counties: Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, County Durham, Lancashire, Cheshire, Northumberland and Merseyside.[9]

Organisation

The Regiment is part of 4th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters North East. It is part of the Royal Armoured Corps and consists of four squadrons:[10]

Order of precedence

For the purposes of parading, the Regiments of the British Army are listed according to an order of precedence. This is the order in which the various corps of the army parade, from right to left, with the unit at the extreme right being the most senior.

Guidon

QOY Guidon with Guard of Honour for TA 100 Celebrations

The Guidon, which is awarded by The Queen, is a flag of crimson silk damask embroidered and fringed with gold with the Regimental Battle Honours emblazoned upon it and the Regimental emblem embroidered in the centre. On 22 September 2007 Prince Charles, in his capacity as Royal Honorary Colonel of The Queen's Own Yeomanry, presented a new Guidon to the Regiment in an hour-long ceremony in the grounds of Alnwick Castle. This was the first Guidon the QOY has received since its formation.[12]

Armoured Vehicles

In late 2013, with the phasing out of CVR(T) across the British Army, the regiment was re-equipped with the Land Rover Defender-based RWMIK, a light armoured vehicle, equipped with the General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG) and the Browning .50 Heavy Machine Gun (HMG), as well as individual BOWMAN digital battlefield communications systems and specialised surveillance optics, including thermal imaging.[13] In 2018 the regiment re-equipped with Jackal 1's to harmonise vehicles with its sister regiment, The Light Dragoons.[8]

Uniform

Badges

The whole Regiment wears a variation of the running fox cap badge of the old East Riding Yeomanry. However, each of the Squadrons wears its own collar badges and buttons.

Stable Belt and Shoulder Flash

The Regimental Stable Belt or shoulder flashes are worn to show a soldier or officer is serving with the QOY in various forms of dress. The colour of both is Prussian blue with two horizontal stripes of cavalry gold (yellow): [14]

 
 
 
 
 

Lineage

1908 Haldane Reforms1956 Post-War Mergers1966 Defence White Paper1990 Options for Change1999 Strategic Defence Review2015 Army 2020
Yorkshire Hussars (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own) Queen's Own Yorkshire Yeomanry Y Squadron, Queen's Own Yeomanry A Squadron, Queen's Own Yeomanry
Queen's Own Yorkshire Dragoons
East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry
Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry D Squadron, Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry B Squadron, Queen's Own Yeomanry
Cheshire Yeomanry (Earl of Chester's) C Squadron, Queen's Own Yeomanry C Squadron, Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry C Squadron, Queen's Own Yeomanry
Northumberland Hussars HQ Squadron, Queen's Own Yeomanry D Squadron, Queen's Own Yeomanry C&S Squadron, Queen's Own Yeomanry

Freedoms

The regiment has received the Freedom of several locations throughout its history; these include:

References

  1. ↑ "Army – Question for Ministry of Defence". p. 1. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  2. ↑ "Queen's Own Yeomanry". Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  3. ↑ "A royal thumbs up: Ayr newlyweds meet Prince Charles on their big day". Evening Times. 3 May 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  4. ↑ "Queen's Own Yeomanry". British Army units 1945 on. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  5. ↑ "A Squadron Queen's Own Yeomanry". Archived from the original on 24 October 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  6. ↑ "Summary of Army 2020 Reserve Structure and Basing Changes, pages 1 and 2" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 August 2013. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  7. ↑ Army 2020 Report Archived June 10, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  8. 1 2 "Queen's Own Yeomanry deploy on exercise to Croatia". Ministry of Defence. 18 September 2019.
  9. ↑ "Queen's Own Yeomanry". www.army.mod.uk. Retrieved 2018-12-20.
  10. ↑ "Queen's Own Yeomanry: contact details". Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  11. ↑ "No. 63516". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 November 2021. p. 19472.
  12. ↑ "Prince is king of castle with soldiers". The Journal. 24 September 2007. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  13. ↑ "Queen's Own Yeomanry". Ministry of Defence. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  14. ↑ "Sussex Yeomanry". Stable Belts. Retrieved 18 November 2017.
  15. ↑ "Prince Charles takes salute in Newcastle veterans parade". BBC. 8 October 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  16. ↑ "Honorary Freemen of the City from 1886 – 1976" (PDF). City of Newcastle. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  17. ↑ "York soldiers to be honoured". York Press. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  18. ↑ Stockman, Cindy (30 April 2014). "The Prince of Wales to take salute at Honorary Freedom of South Ayrshire ceremony". Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  19. ↑ Sherlock, Gemma (2019-10-11). "Road closures for parade in Chester city centre this weekend". chesterchronicle. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
  20. ↑ Green, Michael (2019-10-02). "Chester to welcome Cheshire Yeomanry for Freedom of the City march". chesterchronicle. Retrieved 2019-10-12.
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