1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards

Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards


caption=Cap badge of 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards
dates=January 1 1959-
country=United Kingdom
branch=Army
type=Line Cavalry
command_structure=Royal Armoured Corps
role=Formation Reconnaissance
size= One regiment
current_commander=
garrison= RHQ - Cardiff
Regiment - Sennelager, Germany
ceremonial_chief=Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria
HRH The Prince of Wales, KG, GCB, KT
ceremonial_chief_label=Colonel-in-Chief
colonel_of_the_regiment= Major General Simon Mayall
nickname="The Cavalry Regiment of Wales and the Border Counties"
motto= "Pro rege et patria" (For King and Country) (Latin)
colors=
identification_symbol=
identification_symbol_label=Tactical Recognition Flash
identification_symbol_2=Royal Cypher of Queen Caroline
From the Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards)
identification_symbol_2_label=Arm Badge
identification_symbol_4=QDG
identification_symbol_4_label=Abbreviation
march=Quick - "The Radetsky March and Rusty Buckles"
Slow - "1st Dragoon Guards and 2nd Dragoon Guards Slow March"
mascot=
battles=Most notable Battle Honours are Blenheim, Waterloo, Tobruk and El Alamein.
notable_commanders=
anniversaries=

1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards (QDG) is a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was formed in 1959 by the amalgamation of 1st King's Dragoon Guards and the Queen's Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards), both of which were raised in 1685 as Lanier's or 2nd Queen's Regiment of Horse, and Peterborough's or 3rd Regiment of Horse by James II of England in reaction to the Monmouth Rebellion.

Nicknamed The Welsh Cavalry, the regiment recruits from Wales, Herefordshire, and Shropshire, and is the senior Cavalry Regiment, and therefore senior Cavalry Regiment of the Line. The regiment is part of the Royal Armoured Corps.

The regiment currently operates in the formation reconnaissance role and is equipped with vehicles from the CVR(T) family. These include the Scimitar armoured reconnaissance vehicle; the Sultan command vehicle and Samaritan ambulance; the Spartan armoured personnel carrier and the Samson armoured recovery vehicle.

The regiment is currently serving in Germany, having recently returned from Iraq on Operation Telic, its third tour to the region in three years. In 2003, C Squadron QDG was attached to 3 Commando Brigade, providing the reconnaissance and light armour support necessary to allow the brigade's advance north to Al Basrah. Members of C Squadron won a variety of operational awards for their efforts on Op Telic 1, most notably the Military Crosses awarded to Lieutenant Simon Farebrother and Major Henry Sugden.

The regiment's cap badge is the Habsburg double headed eagle, which Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria allowed the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards to wear when he become their Colonel-in-Chief in 1896.

Perhaps the best known member in recent years was Captain Mark Phillips, one-time husband of Princess Anne.

Battle honours

* [combined battle honours of 1st King’s Dragoon Guards, and The Queen’s Bays (2nd Dragoon Guards)] , plus:
*Wadi al Batin, Gulf 1991; Al Basrah, Iraq 2003

Notable COs

*1971-1973: Maurice Robert Johnston

Alliances

*CAN - The Governor General's Horse Guards
*AUS - 1st/15th Royal New South Wales Lancers
*RSA - 1 Special Service Battalion
*PAK - 11th Cavalry (Frontier Force)
*SRI - 1st Reconnaissance Regiment
*RN - HMS "Monmouth"
*FRA - 1er Régiment Étranger de Cavalerie

Affiliated Yeomanry

*The Shropshire Yeomanry
*The Cheshire Yeomanry (The Earl of Chester's)

Order of Precedence

External links and sources

* [http://www.army.mod.uk/qdg/index.htm The regiment's official homepage]
* [http://www.army.mod.uk/rac/formation_recoinaissance/1st_the_queen_s_dragoon_guards.htm Brief History and Summary] from the website of the Royal Armoured Corps
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2872929.stm Welsh Cavalry pushes in to Iraq] , a BBC article on the regiment's early participation in the 2003 Invasion of Iraq
* [http://www.qdg.org.uk/ The regiment's homepage] Navbox
name = British Army Household Cavalry and Royal Armoured Corps Regiments
title = British Army Household Cavalry and Royal Armoured Corps Regiments


list1 =

Life Guards • Blues and Royals • Household Cavalry Regiment • Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment • 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards • Royal Scots Dragoon Guards • Royal Dragoon Guards • Queen's Royal Hussars • 9th/12th Royal Lancers • King's Royal Hussars • Light Dragoons • Queen's Royal Lancers • 1st Royal Tank Regiment• 2nd Royal Tank Regiment • Royal Yeomanry • Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry • Royal Wessex Yeomanry• Queen's Own Yeomanry