The Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment was a

line infantry Line infantry was the type of infantry that formed the bulk of most European land armies from the mid-17th century to the mid-19th century. Maurice of Nassau and Gustavus Adolphus are generally regarded as its pioneers, while Henri de la Tour d ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

from 1961 to 1966. Its lineage is continued by the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshires).

History

The regiment was formed on 1 March 1961, as a consequence of defence cuts implemented in the 1950s, by the amalgamation of the

Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), formerly the 3rd Regiment of Foot, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army traditionally raised in the English county of Kent and garrisoned at Canterbury. It had a history dating back to 1572 and ...

and the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment. In 1961, the regiment was deployed in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, then a British colony. In the following year the regiment returned to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, where the 1st Battalion was presented with its first

colours Color (or colour in Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is the visual perception based on the electromagnetic spectrum. Though color is not an inherent property of matter, color perception is related to an object's light absorpt ...

by its Colonel-in-Chief, HM King Frederik IX of

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

on 23 June. In 1964 the regiment was deployed to

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies. It was located on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first known Europeans to encounter Guia ...

after violence broke out there, at a time when the

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

n colony was experiencing turbulent times. The regiment departed South America for the Far East the following year, joining the

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

garrison. In June 1966, the regiment was deployed on a six-month tour-of-duty in the jungles of

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

to take part in the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation. This had started in 1962 after an Indonesian-inspired rebellion took place in

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

, which was successfully quelled. The 'Confrontation' officially ended a short while after the regiment arrived; it returned to Hong Kong upon the end of its tour. The regiment existed for less than six years: on 31 December 1966, the four regiments of the Home Counties Brigade were merged to form the

Queen's Regiment The Queen's Regiment (QUEENS) was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1966 through the amalgamation of the four regiments of the Home Counties Brigade. Then, until 1971 the regiment remained one of the largest regiments in the ar ...

. The regiments merged were the

Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army which existed from 1959 to 1966. In 1966, it was amalgamated with the Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment, the Royal Sussex Regiment and the Middlesex Re ...

, the Queen's Own Buffs, the

Royal Sussex Regiment The Royal Sussex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was in existence from 1881 to 1966. The regiment was formed in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foo ...

and the Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own). Each of the four regular battalions in the brigade became a battalion of the new "

large regiment A large regiment is a multi-battalion infantry formation of the British Army. First formed in the 1960s, large regiments are the result of the amalgamation of a number of existing single-battalion regiments, and perpetuate the traditions of each o ...

Alliances

* – The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada (1961–1966) * – 1st Battalion (Carleton and York), The Royal New Brunswick Regiment (1961–1966) * – The Essex and Kent Scottish (1961–1966) * – The Canterbury Regiment (1961–1964) * – 2nd Battalion (Canterbury and Nelson-Marlborough, and West Coast), Royal New Zealand Infantry (1964–1966)

Other information

* ''Colonel-in-Chief'': HM King Frederik IX of Denmark * ''Colonel'': Chief Commandant HRH The Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent

Deputy Colonels

Deputy colonels of the regiment were: *1961–1961: Maj-Gen. Valentine Boucher, CB, CBE ''(ex the

)'' *1961–1963?: Maj-Gen. Dennis Edmund Blaquiere Talbot, CB, CBE, DSO, MC, DL (as Associate Colonel) ''(ex The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment)'' *1963?–1965: Maj-Gen. Dennis Edmund Blaquiere Talbot, CB, CBE, DSO, MC, DL *1965–1966: Lt-Gen. Sir Richard Craddock, KBE, CB, DSO ''(to the

)'' *''1966: Regiment amalgamated with The Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment,

The Royal Sussex Regiment The Royal Sussex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was in existence from 1881 to 1966. The regiment was formed in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foot a ...

and

The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) The Middlesex Regiment (Duke of Cambridge's Own) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1966. The regiment was formed, as the Duke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex Regiment), in 1881 as part of the Childers Re ...

to form The Queen's Regiment''

References

External links

*
The home of The Queen's Regiment

The official website of The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment
{{PWRR Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment Military units and formations established in 1961 Military units and formations disestablished in 1966 Queen's Regiment Military units and formations in Kent