The 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) was a cavalry regiment 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 ...

, formed in 1960 by the amalgamation of the

9th Queen's Royal Lancers The 9th Queen's Royal Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1715. It saw service for three centuries, including the First and Second World Wars. The regiment survived the immediate post-war reduction in forces, but wa ...

and the

12th Royal Lancers The 12th (Prince of Wales's) Royal Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army first formed in 1715. It saw service for three centuries, including the First World War and the Second World War. The regiment survived the immediate post-war ...

. In the later years of its existence, the regiment served as a

formation reconnaissance regiment The Formation Reconnaissance Regiment is one of two organisations currently provided by cavalry regiments of the British Army. Until recently, it was known as the Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment. Formation reconnaissance regiments, as the name ...

, equipped with the

Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) 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 of vehicles and was attached to the

7th Armoured Brigade 7 (seven) is the natural number following 6 and preceding 8. It is the only prime number preceding a cube. As an early prime number in the series of positive integers, the number seven has greatly symbolic associations in religion, mythology, s ...

, the Desert Rats. The regiment was based in South Wigston, Leicestershire, along with its affiliated Territorial Army unit, B (Leicestershire and Derbyshire Yeomanry) Squadron, The Royal Yeomanry. It was amalgamated with 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 ...

on 2 May 2015 to form the

Royal Lancers The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeths' Own) is a cavalry regiment of the British Army. The regiment was formed by an amalgamation of 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) and the Queen's Royal Lancers on 2 May 2015. It serves as the Formati ...

History

The amalgamation of the

and the

took place on 11 September 1960 in

Tidworth Tidworth is a garrison town and civil parish in south-east Wiltshire, England, on the eastern edge of Salisbury Plain. Lying on both sides of the A338 about north of the A303 primary route, the town is approximately west of Andover, south ...

Garrison Church.Brief History, page 12 The inscription reads: ''"Here on the 11 September 1960, 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) was formed by the 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers and the 12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) coming together before God. It is not the beginning but the continuing of the same until it be thoroughly finished, which yieldeth the true glory."'' During 1960, the regiment was assigned Centurion tanks. On 10 May 1972, the regiment received the Freedom of

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

and in January 1975 the whole regiment was deployed to Armagh for a four-month tour during

the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an " ...

. Squadrons were sent on tours to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

in the late 1980s during the emergency there.Brief History, page 14 D Squadron deployed to the Middle East in 1991 on

Operation Granby Operation Granby, commonly abbreviated Op Granby, was the code name given to the British military operations during the 1991 Gulf War. 53,462 members of the British Armed Forces were deployed during the conflict. The total cost of operations w ...

to provide battle casualty replacements. The regiment was again at the forefront in 1992 as part of the deployment to Bosnia on Operation ''Grapple'' 1. In 1999, the regiment was deployed to Canada as the 'opposing force' for training battlegroups. The regiment took part in Operation ''Telic'' in Iraq, providing units for Telic 3 in 2004 and then Telic 7 in 2005.Brief History, page 18 It also provided a number of sub units, which were deployed on Telic 12 in 2008. In addition, the regiment provided units for Operation ''Herrick'' 14 in Afghanistan in 2011. In 2012, as part of the ''

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 ...

'' reforms intended to reduce the size of the

in line with the Strategic Defence and Security Review, it was announced that the 9th/12th Royal Lancers would be amalgamated with the

to form a single regiment, The

, in 2015.

Regimental museum

The Royal Lancers Museum is housed at Derby Museum and Art Gallery in the Soldier's Story Gallery, based on the collections, inter alia, of the 9th/12th Royal Lancers.

Battle honours

The regiment carries the following

battle honours A battle honour is an award of a right by a government or sovereign to a military unit to emblazon the name of a battle or operation on its flags ("colours"), uniforms or other accessories where ornamentation is possible. In European military t ...

awarded to its predecessors: * Egypt, Salamanca, Peninsula, Waterloo, Punniar, Sobraon, Chillianwallah, Goojerat, Punjaub, South Africa 1851–53, Sevastopol, Delhi 1857, Lucknow, Central India, Charasiah, Kabul 1878, Kandahar 1880, Afghanistan 1878–80, Modder River, Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg, South Africa 1899–1902 * ''Great War'': Mons, Retreat from Mons, Marne 1914, Aisne 1914, Messines 1914, Ypres 1914–18, Somme 1916–18, Arras 1917, Cambrai 1917–18, Rosieres, Sambre, Pursuit to Mons *''Second World War'': Dyle, Dunkirk 1940, Somme 1940, NW Europe 1940, Chor Es Sufan, Gazala, Rusweisat, El Alamein, El Hamma, Tunis, N Africa 1941–43, Lamone Bridgehead, Argenta Gap, Bologna, Italy 1944–45

Colonels-in-chief

* 1960–2002: Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother * 2003–2015: Prince Andrew, Duke of York, KCVO, ADC

Regimental colonels

Colonels of the Regiment were: *1960–1961: Gen. Sir Richard Loudon McCreery, GCB, KBE, DSO, MC (ex

) *1961–1967: Maj. (Hon. Lt-Col.) Gerald Hugh Grosvenor, 4th Duke of Westminster, DSO *1967–1973: Maj-Gen. Gilbert Walter Riversdale Monckton, 2nd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley, CB, OBE, MC, DL, KJStJ *1973–1978: Brig. Christopher John Beckett, 4th Baron Grimthorpe, OBE, DL *1978–1982: Maj-Gen. Sutton Martin O'Heguerty Abraham, CB, MC *1982–1986: Maj-Gen. John Myles Brockbank, CBE, MC *1986–1990: Col. Michael ffolliott Woodhead, OBE *1990–1995: Maj-Gen. George Michael Geoffrey Swindells, CB *1995–2003: Brig. Hugh William Kellow Pye *2003–2008: Maj-Gen. Robin Vincent Searby, CB *2008-2015: Maj-Gen. James Henderson Terry Short,CB,OBE

Mons Moy

''Mons Moy'' is the weekend that the regiment, both serving and old comrades, remember the fallen of all conflicts. Where commitments allow, it falls between 28 August and 7 September. On 28 August 1914, at Moy, the 12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) successfully charged against the Prussian Guard Dragoons.Brief History, page 9

Regimental collect

"O Eternal God, grant to us, thy servants of the 9th/12th Royal Lancers, strength, guidance, courage, and steadfast Faith, that we may ever serve thee truly; and finally by thy mercy attain everlasting glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord – ''Amen''".

Freedoms

The Regiment received the Freedom of several locations throughout their history. These included * 5 November 2012: Northampton.

Alliances

* –

The Prince Edward Island Regiment (RCAC) , colors = Gold and black , march = "Old Solomon Levi" , notable_commanders = , anniversaries = , engagements = , battles = S ...

* –

12th Cavalry (Frontier Force) The 12th Cavalry Sam Browne's Cavalry (Frontier Force) is an armoured regiment of Pakistan Army. It was formed in the British Indian army in 1922 by the amalgamation of 22nd Sam Browne's Cavalry (Frontier Force) and 25th Cavalry (Frontier Force) ...

Affiliations

* B (Leicestershire and Derbyshire (Prince Albert's Own) Yeomanry) Squadron, Royal Yeomanry * HMS Tireless *B Squadron, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire & Rutland Army Cadet Force *Bedfordshire & Hertfordshire Army Cadet Force

References

External links

9th/12th Royal Lancers Official website9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's) Charitable AssociationBritish Army Locations from 1945
{{DEFAULTSORT:9th 12th Royal Lancers 9-009 Royal Lancers Military units and formations established in 1960 Military units and formations disestablished in 2015 Royal Armoured Corps Collections of Derby Museum and Art Gallery