The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeths' Own) is a

cavalry regiment Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating a ...

of the

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 Gurk ...

. The regiment was formed by an amalgamation of

9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) The 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, formed in 1960 by the amalgamation of the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers and the 12th Royal Lancers. In the later years of its existence, the regiment served a ...

and the

Queen's Royal Lancers 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. History The regiment was formed in 1 ...

on 2 May 2015. It serves as the Formation Reconnaissance Regiment of the 1st Armoured Infantry Brigade.

History

It appears that the regimental amalgamation of the

and the

was envisaged as part of

Army 2020 Army 2020, was the name given to the restructuring of the British Army, in light of the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review. Background The British Government gave an indication of its proposals for the future structure of the Army in ea ...

. The amalgamation was announced in July 2012, and the regiment was formed with an amalgamation parade before the colonel-in-chief, The Queen, at

Richmond Castle Richmond Castle in Richmond, North Yorkshire, England, stands in a commanding position above the River Swale, close to the centre of the town of Richmond. It was originally called Riche Mount, 'the strong hill'. The castle was constructed by Ala ...

on 2 May 2015. On 5 April 2017, to mark her 70th anniversary as colonel-in-chief of The Royal Lancers and its predecessors, The Queen granted the regiment the honorific suffix "Queen Elizabeths' Own", to recognise their service to Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

Operational role

The regiment is an Armoured Cavalry Regiment, equipped with the

CVR(T) The Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked), abbreviated CVR(T), is a family of armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) developed in the 1960s and is in service with the British Army and others throughout the world. They are small, highly mobile, air ...

family, mainly the

FV107 Scimitar The FV107 Scimitar is an armoured tracked military reconnaissance vehicle (sometimes classed as a light tank) used by the British Army. It was manufactured by Alvis in Coventry. It is very similar to the FV101 Scorpion, but mounts a high-veloci ...

. This was intended to be replaced by the

Ajax (Scout SV) The Ajax, formerly known as the Scout SV (Specialist Vehicle), is a group of armoured fighting vehicles being developed by General Dynamics UK for the British Army. The Ajax is a development of the ASCOD armoured fighting vehicles used by the ...

from 2019; however, after considerable delays, British Army trials of the Ajax were paused in the summer of 2021 due to excessive vibration. The

Panther Command and Liaison Vehicle Iveco LMV (Light Multirole Vehicle) is a 4WD tactical vehicle developed by Iveco, and in service with several countries. After its adoption by the Italian Army as the ''Veicolo-Tattico-Leggero-Multiruolo'' (VTLM) ''Lince'' ("Light tactical multi ...

is also currently used. The regiment consists of three Sabre Squadrons of sixteen vehicles each and one Command and Support Squadron. The Royal Lancers forms part of the

Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the component of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 Tank and the Scimitar Reconnaissance Vehicle. It includes most of the A ...

. It is based in Catterick as part of the

12th Armoured Infantry Brigade The 12th Armoured Brigade Combat team, formerly the 12th Armoured Infantry Brigade, is a regular brigade of the British Army which has been in almost continuous existence since 1899 and now forms part of 3rd Division (United Kingdom), 3rd (United ...

, one of the three

Armoured Infantry Mechanized infantry are infantry units equipped with armored personnel carriers (APCs) or infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for transport and combat (see also mechanized force). As defined by the United States Army, mechanized infantry is disti ...

Brigades of the 3rd Division.

Colonels of the Regiment

* 2015–2019: Brigadier Andrew Hughes CBE * 2019–Present: Col Richard Charrington

Commanding Officers

Regimental Commanding Officers included: * 2015–2017:

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Marcus J. Mudd * 2017–2019: Lt Col Henry L. Searby * 2019–2021: Lt Col Adam N. B. Foden * 2021–Present: Lt Col Will J. R. Richmond

Order of precedence

The regiment retains order of precedence from the more senior antecedent regiment, the

Lineage

The Royal Lancers is now the last regiment in the British Army to retain the title of "lancers". It has directly or indirectly inherited the traditions of the six British lancer regiments that were in existence until a series of amalgamations began in 1922.

Traditions

The Regimental Cap Badge is referred to as the 'Motto' and stands for 'Death or Glory'.

Alliances

* –

Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) Lord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians) (LdSH C is a regular armoured regiment of the Canadian Army and is Canada’s only tank regiment. Currently based in Edmonton, Alberta, the regiment is part of 3rd Canadian Division's 1 Canadian Mechanize ...

* – 12th Frontier Force (Sam Browne's Cavalry) * –

References

External links

Official webpage
{{Authority control Regiments of the Royal Armoured Corps Cavalry regiments of the British Army Military units and formations established in 2015