Royal Regiment of Scotland Replaces 400 Years of History

Wednesday was the 373rd anniversary of the formation of the Royal Scots regiment, the oldest active regiment in the British Army. It was also the day it ceased to exist along with the Black Watch, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, the Royal Highland Fusiliers, the King's Own Scottish Borderers and the Highlanders. They are now mere battalions in the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

All of this must have seemed a bit odd to the Jocks in Basra. Their tour of duty runs through May, and then, they get to leave the sunshine and improvised explosive devices for Scotland’s danker climes and slightly safer streets. What must it do to moral to have one’s unit abolished after four centuries while one is still on active duty in a war zone? Would this have happened if Gordon Brown had been Prime Minister? After all, south of the border, Mr. Blair is a Scot, but north of it, he’s a Sassenach. Mr. Brown, though, is not.

Change comes very slowly to the military, and when it comes at the command of politicians, it is not always welcome. Major-General Euan Loudon handed the soldiers who paraded in Edinburgh Castle’s Crown Square, their new Glengarry caps, “each bearing the hackle appropriate to what were once individual regiments, but are now mere battalions: black for the 1st Battalion (Royal Scots Borderers ); white for 2nd Battalion (Royal Highland Fusiliers); the famous red for the 3rd Battalion (Black Watch); blue for the 4th Battalion (Highlanders); and green for the 5th Battalion (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders),” as the Scotsman reported it. He then said, “Change may be painful, but it has come to visit us in our day and generation.”

Back in Basra, the commander told his men, “"From this moment forward, the very best way to cherish and respect the memory of the Royal Scots will be to carry this honour forward with pride into the regiment.” By the way, the commander is Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Bruce (can’t make that up).

This isn’t the first time that regiments in Scotland have been combined to please politicians. The Highlanders Regiment was formed in 1994 with the amalgamation of the Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons) and The Gordon Highlanders. The Royal Scots Borderers were the old Royal Scots and King's Own Scottish Borderers. The Royal Regiment of Scotland comes from a glorious military tradition, and the Kensington Review hopes that it creates its own grand tradition, ideally at home and at peace.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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