Royal Regiment of Scotland

Updated on Oct 01, 2024

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Active 28 March 2006– Branch British Army		Allegiance United Kingdom Type infantry

Role 1st Battalion: Light Infantry2nd Battalion: Light Infantry3rd Battalion: Light Mechanised Infantry4th Battalion: Armoured infantryBalaklava Coy: Public duties6th Battalion: Army Reserve7th Battalion: Army Reserve Size Six battalionsOne reinforced company

The Royal Regiment of Scotland is the senior and only Scottish line infantry regiment of the British Army Infantry. It consists of four regular and two reserve battalions, plus an incremental company, each formerly an individual regiment (with the exception of the first battalion, which is an amalgamation of two regiments). However, each battalion maintains its former regimental Pipes & Drums to carry on the traditions of their antecedent regiments.

History

As part of restructuring in the British Army, the Royal Regiment of Scotland's creation was announced by the Secretary of State for Defence, Geoff Hoon in the House of Commons on 16 December 2004, after the merger of several regiments and the reduction in total regular infantry battalions from 40 to 36 was outlined in the defence white paper, Delivering Security in a Changing World, several months earlier.

The regiment consists of a total of seven battalions: one of these was formed by the amalgamation of the Royal Scots and King's Own Scottish Borderers, while the others are each formed from one of the remaining single-battalion regiments of the Scottish Division. Along with the Rifles, it is currently the largest infantry regiment in the British Army. Of all of the new regiments formed following the announcement of 16 December 2004, the Royal Regiment of Scotland is the only one where the former regimental titles have been prominently retained with the new numbered battalion designations as subtitles. There is however a common regimental cap badge, TRF, tartan, stable belt and Glengarry headdress but distinctively coloured hackles are also worn by each separate battalion on the Tam o' Shanter headdress to maintain their individual identity and the pipes and drums of each battalion continue to wear the ceremonial uniforms and tartans of their former regiments.

Along with the Rifles, the Royal Regiment of Scotland is also one of only two line infantry regiments to maintain its own regular military band within the Corps of Army Music, which was formed through the amalgamation of the Highland band and Lowland band of the Scottish Division. In addition, there are two Territorial bands, the Highland Band and the Lowland Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, which are administered by the regiment's two Territorial battalions. The regiment also has its own Parachute Display Team, the Golden Lions and shinty team, the Scots Shinty Club.

In 1948, every regiment of line infantry was reduced to a single battalion. The subsequent process of reducing the overall number of infantry regiments in the Army through disbandment or amalgamation of the traditional county regiments that were formalised in the Childers Reforms of 1881 to form larger multi-battalion regiments, has continued to affect most of the British Army Infantry since the 1957 Defence White Paper outlined the first mergers. The creation of the Royal Regiment of Scotland encountered considerable opposition amongst former soldiers, conservatives and nationalist groups.

The new regiment is also primarily a kilted one and there are concerns that the much older Lowland units, which traditionally wore trews, will be effectively absorbed into a Highland tradition. However, the Ministry of Defence's case that change was necessary to enhance operational efficiency through economies of scale, improve and create more flexible conditions of service and to resolve chronic recruiting and retention problems amongst the eight single-battalion Scottish regiments appears to have been accepted by the majority of serving personnel, and indeed was recommended by the then Chief of the General Staff, Sir Mike Jackson. Jackson delegated the decision on how the reduction of battalions would be achieved to the Council of Scottish Colonels. The Council recommended that the Royal Scots should be amalgamated with the King's Own Scottish Borderers reflecting the former regiment's long term poor recruiting record and high reliance on Commonwealth recruits.

The status of the Black Watch was particularly controversial. When the confirmed plan to amalgamate the Regiments was announced, 1st Battalion The Black Watch was deployed away from Basra at Camp Dogwood in a relatively dangerous region of Iraq. Hoon was accused by the SNP of "stabbing the soldiers in the back" and being motivated purely by political and administrative concerns, with little regard to the effect on morale. This controversy was further exacerbated in the minds of some by the fact that the Colonel of the Black Watch, Lieutenant-General Alistair Irwin, was a Member of the Army Board at the time that the options to change the size and structure of the Infantry by forming large regiments, including to amalgamate regiments of the Scottish Division into a single Regiment, were being considered in the Ministry of Defence and final decisions taken.

The regiment was initially formed of six regular and two Territorial battalions on 28 March 2006. On 1 August 2006, the Royal Scots Battalion and King's Own Scottish Borderers Battalion were amalgamated into the 1st Battalion, Royal Scots Borderers, leaving the final regular roll of five regular battalions.

In 2012, as part of the Army 2020 reform package, it was announced that the 5th Battalion, while not losing its name, connection and history as the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, would be reduced to the status of an incremental company, similar to the three companies in the Guards Division, and be transferred to become a permanent public duties unit in Scotland.

Organisation

All battalions in the Royal Regiment of Scotland, to preserve regional ties and former regimental identities, took the name of their former individual regiments. The order of battle is as follows:

Regular battalions

The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland - operates in a light infantry role under 38th (Irish) Brigade. Personnel are based at Palace Barracks in Belfast. The battalion will move to Aldershot and convert to a Specialised Infantry battalion, to provide an increased contribution to countering terrorism and building stability overseas.

The Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland - operates in the light protected mobility role under 51st Infantry Brigade and Headquarters Scotland. Personnel are based at Glencorse Barracks in Edinburgh.

The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland - operates in the light protected mobility role under 51st Infantry Brigade and Headquarters Scotland. Personnel are based at Fort George.

The Highlanders, 4th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland - operates in the heavy protected mobility role under 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade. Personnel are based at Catterick Garrison

Balaklava Company, 5th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders)

Reserve battalions

52nd Lowland, 6th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland - operates in a light infantry role under 51st Infantry Brigade and Headquarters Scotland. Personnel are based in Glasgow.

51st Highland, 7th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland - operates in a light infantry role under 51st Infantry Brigade and Headquarters Scotland. Personnel are based in Perth.

Colonel-in-chief

The regiment's Colonel-in-Chief is HM The Queen. The colonels-in-chief of the constituent regiments making up the new regiment have become the Royal Colonels of their representative battalions:

1st Battalion: HRH The Princess Royal

2nd Battalion: HRH The Duke of York

3rd Battalion: HRH The Duke of Rothesay¹

4th Battalion: HRH The Duke of Edinburgh

5th Battalion: HM The Queen

6th Battalion: HRH The Princess Royal

7th Battalion: HRH The Duke of Rothesay

^1 The Duke of Rothesay takes the title of Prince of Wales whilst outside Scotland.

Cap badge and motto

In August 2005, the new regimental cap badge was unveiled at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. The design was the result of a collaborative effort, led by Brigadier Andrew Mackay, along with other serving and retired officers and Regimental Sergeant Majors, with advice from the Lord Lyon King of Arms. The new cap badge incorporates the Saltire of St Andrew and the Lion Rampant of the Royal Standard of Scotland, which are two prominent national symbols. The cap badge is surmounted by a crown, in this case the Crown of Scotland. The regiment's motto is Nemo Me Impune Lacessit (No One Assails Me With Impunity)—which is the motto of the Order of the Thistle, Scotland's highest order of chivalry, and was also the motto of four of the pre-existing Scottish regiments.

Dress

The new regiment's various Dress Uniforms incorporate a number of "golden threads" from the antecedent regiments. Some of the most prominent include:

All battalions wear the Lowland pattern Glengarry, this pattern was in fact also common to the Seaforth Highlanders and Gordon Highlanders, as well as the Lowland Royal Highland Fusiliers, Royal Scots and King's Own Scottish Borderers regiments.

In No. 1 and No. 2 pattern dress, all battalions wear Blackcock tail feathers attached to the Glengarry in a tradition taken from the Royal Scots and King's Own Scottish Borderers.

The regimental motto of the Highlanders, Cuidich 'n Righ (Aid the King), has been incorporated into the Royal Scots Thistle pattern collar dogs worn on the No.1 and No.2 pattern doublet or Service Dress jacket.

The tartan adopted by the new regiment is Government 1A (sometimes known as Sutherland), a version of the Government (Black Watch) tartan worn by the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

The kilt is sewn in a box pleat style, as worn by the 2nd Battalion Black Watch, Seaforth Highlanders, Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons) and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. The Sporran is in the horsehair style worn by the Seaforth Highlanders and Gordon Highlanders, with a brass Black Watch cantle.

The Black and Red diced Hose and scarlet Garter flashes are in a style worn by the Black Watch. The Spats with black buttons, worn over the Brogues, are in a style worn by the Gordon Highlanders, with a point to the rear, as worn by the Black Watch.

The Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland wears the Feather bonnet with a red over white hackle and scarlet Doublet in Full Dress Uniform.

Hackles

While in PCS combat dress, each battalion wears its own unique coloured hackle on the Tam O'Shanter:

1st Battalion: Black

2nd Battalion: White

3rd Battalion: Red

4th Battalion: Blue

5th Battalion: Green

6th Battalion: Grey

7th Battalion: Purple

Mascot

The official mascot is a Shetland pony named Cruachan. He was originally the regimental mascot of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders prior to the amalgamation. The first pony mascot was presented to the Argylls in 1929 by HRH Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll and named after Ben Cruachan, a mountain in the Argylls' namesake lieutenancy, and the war cry of Clan Campbell, of whom the Duke of Argyll was chief. The current mascot is Cruachan IV and was presented in late 2012.

Regimental Museum

The Museum of The Royal Regiment of Scotland is co-located with The Royal Scots Museum in Edinburgh Castle. It displays a number of objects relating to the Regiment's activities since formation in 2006.