The Queen's Own Yeomanry
History
The Regiment was initially formed on 1st April 1971 from five of the traditional yeomanry units across the North and Middle of England. As the only territorial army armoured reconnaissance regiment the QOY was equipped with Fox armoured cars and CVR(T) armoured personnel carriers. This changed in 1992 when Fox was withdrawn and they became equipped with the CVR(T) Sabre and Scimitar variants (shown above). With the Strategic Defence Review in 1999 the geographical locations of the QOY changed to encompass Scotland and N Ireland and remains as such now. The regiments five Squadrons are located at York (Y Sqn), Ayr (A Sqn), Belfast (B Sqn), Cupar in Fife (C Sqn), and Newcastle (D Sqn). The Regiment has many battle honours, including some of the most famous battles of the Boer War and both World Wars. HRH The Prince of Wales has recently been appointed as the Royal Regimental Honorary Colonel.
The Present
The QOY was heavily involved in the Gulf War of 2003 and has had a significant number of personnel deployed to Iraq since the end of hostilities. Recently we have had 104 soldiers mobilised for operations in the Gulf and they have all been attached to The Royal Armoured Corps regiments; the vast majority of whom were attached to reconnaissance regiments. In addition to this, the QOY also has soldiers deployed on operations in Bosnia and has had the opportunity to send personnel on exercise around the world; last year we sent soldiers to America and this year we will be sending some to Australia.
The Future
The Regiment will continue to provide support to the regular reconnaissance regiments both on operations and on exercise in Germany and the UK. We will continue to be equipped with CVR(T), training on exactly the same equipment that is provided to the regular army, until they withdraw it from the TA, which may happen sooner than some people think... Next year, soldiers will deploy on exercise with their regular affiliated regiments, and the following year will see the regiment being presented with its new Guidon by HRH the Prince of Wales.
