Active 1 April 1971 - Present Branch British Army Size One Regiment | Allegiance United Kingdom Type Yeomanry | |
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Role Formation Reconnaissance | ||
The Queen's Own Yeomanry (QOY) is one of the Army Reserve light armoured reconnaissance regiments.
Contents
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. During the Cold War The Queen's Own Yeomanry were 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. Soldiers from the regiment have served both in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Under the Army 2020 and creation of the Army Reserve, A, B and C squadron transferred to the Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry, which in turn was renamed the Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry. D Squadron re-roled as a C&S Squadron. It gain two squadrons (C and D Squadrons) from the RMLY. D Squadron from the RMLY was renamed as B (Duke of Lancaster’s Own Yeomanry) Squadron. Y (Yorkshire Yeomanry) Squadron was renamed as A (Yorkshire Yeomanry) Squadron. The unit is paired with the Light Dragoons and uses the Land Rover RWMIK.
Organisation
The Regiment is part of 7th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters East. It is part of the Royal Armoured Corps and consists of four squadrons:
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
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 HRH 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 is the first Guidon the QOY has received since its formation.
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 specialisec surveillance optics, including thermal imaging.
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):