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The Royal Regiment of Scotland

The Royal Regiment of Scotland was formed in March 2006.

The Regiment initially consisted of 6 Regular Battalions but on 1st August 2006 the Battalions of the Royal Scots and Kings Own Scottish Borderers were merged to form the Royal Scots Borderers thus reducing the regular roll of the Royal Regiment of Scotland to 5 Battalions.

The Regiment has two Territorial Battalions.

Battalions of the Royal Regiment of Scotland are employed in the Armoured Infantry, Air Assault and Light roles.

The Battalions that form The Royal Regiment of Scotland are:

• The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Bn The Royal Regiment of Scotland (1 SCOTS).

Although formed in August 2006 the Battalions that amalgamated to form 1SCOTS can both trace their origins back to the 17th Century. These Battalions are:

The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment). Raised under Royal Warrant granted by King Charles 1 in 1633. It was the oldest Regiment in the British Army and as such was the senior Infantry Regiment of the Line. The first Battle Honour awarded to The Royal Scots was ‘Tangier 1680’ with the last being ‘Gulf 1991’. The Regiment received 149 Battle Honours.

The Kings Own Scottish Borderers. The Regiment was raised on 18th March 1689 by the Earl of Leven to defend Edinburgh against the Jacobite forces of James II. The first Battle Honour awarded to the Kings Own Scottish Borderers was ‘Namur 1695’ with the last being ‘Gulf 1991’.

• The Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Bn The Royal Regiment of Scotland (2 SCOTS).

The Royal Highland Fusiliers were founded in 1959 by the highly controversial amalgamation of the Royal Scots Fusiliers and the Highland Light Infantry (City of Glasgow Regiment) but they originated from the Royal Scots Fusiliers, the 21st of Foot, who were founded in 1678.

The Royal Regiment of Scotland

During its’ long and distinguished history The Battalion has been awarded over 200 Battle Honours from the Battle of Blenheim in August 1704 to the Gulf War in 1991.

• The Black Watch, 3rd Bn The Royal Regiment of Scotland (3 SCOTS).

Probably one of the best known Regiments in the British Army the Black Watch was formed in 1725 where it was constituted of six Independent Companies – one each from the Clans Munro, Fraser and Grant and three from Clan Campbell. These companies were raised to stop fighting amongst the clans. It was in 1739 that George II amalgamated these companies into the 42nd (Royal Highland) Regiment of Foot.

The most recent high profile action of the Black Watch was in Iraq in 2004. Deployed to the south of Baghdad – between Fallujah and Karbala – an area later to be known as the ‘Triangle of Death’, they operated out of Camp Dogwood at the request of the United States to replace the United States Marines who had been redeployed for the Second Battle of Fallujah. The Black Watch came under sustained insurgent mortar and rocket attack while at Camp Dogwood.

Since its’ inception the Black Watch have accrued a total of 164 Battle Honours from the Battle of Fontenoy in 1745 to Iraq 1991.

• The Highlanders, 4th Bn The Royal Regiment of Scotland (4 SCOTS).

The origins of the 4th Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland can be traced back to the formation of the 72nd Regiment of Foot (Seaforth Highlanders) in 1778 and the raising, in 1793, of the 79th Regiment of Foot (Queens Own Cameron Highlanders).

On 7th February 1961 the 1st Battalions of the Seaforth Highlanders and Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders were amalgamated to form the Queen’s Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons).

With the restructuring of the British Army as part of the 1990 Options for Change the 1st Battalion, Queen’s Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons) was amalgamated in 1994 with the 1st Battalion, Gordon Highlanders (initially raised in 1793) to form the 1st Battalion, The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons).

It was announced in 2004, as part of the Restructuring of the Infantry, that The Highlanders would amalgamate with other Scottish infantry regiments to form The Royal Regiment of Scotland. These amalgamations took place in March 2006 with the Battalion being permitted to retain the title ‘The Highlanders’ as their ‘primary title’ with the battalion number as the subtitle.

4 SCOTS are equipped with the Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicle and employed in the Armoured Infantry role. They are currently serving as part of 7 Armoured Brigade (The Desert Rats) at Fallingbostel in Northern Germany.

• The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders , 5th Bn The Royal Regiment of Scotland (5 SCOTS).

5 SCOTS can trace its’ origins back to 1759 with the formation of the 91st (Princess Louise’s Argyllshire) Regiment but on amalgamation in 1881 with the 93rd (Sutherland Highlanders) Regiment it became 1st Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.

The Battalion served with distinction in the First and Second World Wars and was one of the first British units to serve in Korea where they were the subject of a friendly fire incident after securing Hill 282. Attacked by three American P-51 Mustangs with napalm the Argyll’s had to withdraw after the sheer number of casualties suffered during the incident. During the Aden Emergency the Argyll’s were ‘in the public eye’ for their reoccupation of the notorious Crater district of Aden where the Battalion was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Colin Campbell Mitchell – affectionately known as ‘Mad Mitch’.