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

line infantry Line infantry was the type of infantry that composed the basis of European land armies from the late 17th century to the mid-19th century. Maurice of Nassau and Gustavus Adolphus are generally regarded as its pioneers, while Turenne and Mon ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

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 Gurkha ...

from 1961 to 1966. Its lineage is continued by the

Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshires) The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (or PWRR, also known as 'The Tigers') is the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, second in the line infantry order of precedence to the Royal Regiment of Scotland and part of the Qu ...

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 ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, 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 Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, where the 1st Battalion was presented with its first

colours Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associa ...

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

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port 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 and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

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, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was ...

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 relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

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

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

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

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and e ...

to take part in the

Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation The Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation or Borneo confrontation (also known by its Indonesian / Malay name, ''Konfrontasi'') was an armed conflict from 1963 to 1966 that stemmed from Indonesia's opposition to the creation of the Federation o ...

. This had started in 1962 after an Indonesian-inspired rebellion took place in

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by th ...

, 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 The Home Counties Brigade was an administrative formation of the British Army from 1948 to 1968. The Brigade administered the regular infantry regiments of the Home Counties of south east England. After the Second World War the British Army had fou ...

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 Regi ...

, 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 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 Ref ...

. 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 of ...

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 The Essex and Kent Scottish is a Primary Reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Army. The regiment was formed in 1954 by the amalgamation of The Essex Scottish Regiment and The Kent Regiment. Its colonel-in-chief is Prince Michael of Ken ...

(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'': Frederick IX, King of Denmark * ''Colonel'':

Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (27 August 1968), born Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark ( el, Μαρίνα), was a Greek princess by birth and a British princess by marriage. She was a daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark a ...

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 The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army based in the county of Kent in existence from 1881 to 1961. The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, originally as the Queen' ...

)'' *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 ...

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 Ref ...

to form The Queen's Regiment''

References

External links

The official web site of The Queen's Own Buffs (PWRR) Regimental Association

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 Military units and formations in Kent