The Queen's Division is a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

training and administrative apparatus for infantry regiments from the east and south of England and the remaining regiment of

Fusiliers Fusilier is a name given to various kinds of soldiers; its meaning depends on the historical context. While fusilier is derived from the 17th-century French word ''fusil'' – meaning a type of flintlock musket – the term has been used in con ...

Formation

The Queen's Division was formed in 1968 with the regimentation of the

Home Counties Brigade The Home Counties Brigade was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1948 to 1968. The Brigade administered the regular infantry regiments of the Home Counties of south east England. After the Second World War the British Army had fou ...

Fusilier Brigade The Fusilier Brigade was an administrative brigade of the British Army from 1958 to 1968, that administered the fusilier regiments. History The Brigade was created as part of the 1957 Defence White Paper announced in July 1957. It was formed on ...

and East Anglian Brigade, followed by the union of the new regiments. The depot was established at

Bassingbourn Barracks Bassingbourn Barracks is a Ministry of Defence installation located north of Royston, Hertfordshire and southwest of Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England. History Early history The barracks were established, on the site of the former RAF Bassin ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to th ...

Cold War

During the Cold War, the Queen's Division saw a massive expansion. Below the list of units belonging to the division with disbandment dates or transfer dates where needed: Following the reorganisation of the TA in 1999, the Queen's Division was reduced to just six regular battalions (two in each regiment) and just three TA battalions (one in each).

Modern day

Because the Queen's Division already contained large regiments from the previous round of amalgamations in the 1960s, it was the only one of the five line infantry divisions to be unaffected by the restructuring announced in 2004. * Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshire) (PWRR) *

Royal Regiment of Fusiliers The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (often referred to as the Royal Fusiliers or, simply, the Fusiliers) is an infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Queen's Division. Currently, the regiment has two battalions: the 1st battalion, part ...

(RRF) *

Royal Anglian Regiment The Royal Anglian Regiment (R ANGLIAN) is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It consists of two Regular battalions and one Reserve battalion. The modern regiment was formed in 1964, making it the oldest of the Line Regiments now operating i ...

(R ANGLIAN) The Queen's Division therefore now comprises the following infantry

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

s: *

Regular Army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following: * a standi ...

Units **1st Battalion, Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshire) **1st Battalion

**1st and 2nd Battalions,

**1st Battalion Duke of Lancasters Regiment **1st Battalion

Mercian Regiment The Mercian Regiment (Cheshire, Worcesters and Foresters, and Staffords) is an infantry regiment of the British Army, which is recruited from five of the counties that formed the ancient kingdom of Mercia. Known as 'The Heart of England's Infant ...

**3rd Battalion Ranger Regiment **1st Battalion Royal Gibralar Regiment *

Army Reserve A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve ...

Units **3rd and 4th Battalions, Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshire) – 4th Battalion was formed in 2018 **5th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers ** 3rd Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment The current Colonel Commandant is Lieutenant General Douglas Chalmers.

Bands

Before the formation of the

Corps of Army Music The Royal Corps of Army Music (RCAM, widely known by its former acronym CAMUS) is a Corps of the British Army dedicated to the provision and promotion of military music. History The formation of the Corps of Army Music was triggered by a defen ...

in 1994, each battalion of the Queen's Division, with the exception of the

maintained a band. These included the following: Regular Army * Band of the 1st Battalion, Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (formed by amalgamation of the 1 and 2 QUEENS bands) * Band of the 2nd Battalion, Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (formed by redesignation of R HAMPS band (Note: 3 QUEENS didn't have a band following reductions in 1984)) * Duke of Kent's Band of the Royal Regiment of FusiliersRRF Regimental Handbook, pp. 14–15. * Saint George's Band of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers * Band of the 1st Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment * Band of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment * Band of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment Territorial Army * Kohima Band of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment – 5 PWRR (formed by redesignation of the Band of the Queen's Regiment – overseen by 5 QUEENS) * Warwickshire Band of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers – 5 RF * Northumbria Band of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers – 6 RF *Band of the Royal Anglian Regiment – 5 R ANGLIAN Following the reductions, all above bands were reduced to the Normandy Band of the Queen's Division (Bands of the RRF) and the Minden Band of the Queen's Division (Bands of the PWRR and R ANGLIANs). Following reductions to the

, the Band of the Queen's Division was formed through amalgamation of the two former bands in 2007, but later disbanded in 2018. CAMUS was reorganised in 2019 with the band reforming, itself now part of

British Army Band Catterick British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. In addition, since 1992 the

Royal Gibraltar Regiment The Royal Gibraltar Regiment is part of British Forces Gibraltar for the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. It was formed in 1958 from the Gibraltar Defence Force as an infantry unit, with an integrated artillery troop. The regiment is ...

maintains a Band and Corps of Drums.

Gallery

References

Sources

* * *

External links

Queen's Division
{{British Army Divisions Infantry divisions of the United Kingdom Military units and formations established in 1968 Royal Regiment of Fusiliers Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment Royal Anglian Regiment