His Majesty The King has honoured The Yorkshire Regiment with the ‘Royal’ prefix, bestowed in recognition of exemplary service to the Crown.
With immediate effect, the Regiment will now be known as The Royal Yorkshire Regiment. There will be no change to the Regiment’s cap badge.
The announcement comes as The King and The Queen Consort visit Yorkshire today, attending the annual Maundy Service at York Minster.
Describing it as an incredibly proud moment, Colonel of The Regiment, Major General Zac Stenning OBE, said: “Today is an historic day. The Royal Yorkshire Regiment is deeply humbled by His Majesty’s bestowal of a ‘Royal’ title, especially so close to the Coronation.
“We are acutely aware that the award of this title is a singular honour.
"It will cement our soldiers’ pride and identity in belonging to a unique, county-named Infantry regiment, committed to service and duty to our nation.
“Operational challenges we face in the future, will be embraced by our soldiers and officers with the same level of professionalism, commitment and determination but with enhanced pride in belonging to The Royal Yorkshire Regiment.”
The Royal Yorkshire Regiment history
The Yorkshire Regiment was formed in 2006 by the merger of The Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire, The Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own Yorkshire Regiment) and The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (West Riding) and can trace its history back 338 years to 1685. Its forbears have served in many conflicts around the world including, most poignantly, suffering the greatest proportion of casualties on the first day on the Somme in 1916.
Since 2006 The Yorkshire Regiment has been deployed on 20 operations overseas including three tours in Iraq and 12 tours in Afghanistan including, most recently, Operation Pitting (the evacuation of Afghan nationals from Kabul) in August 2021.
Eighteen soldiers have been killed and more than 70 members of the Regiment have been wounded in action since formation. A similar number have received operational gallantry awards.
The Royal Yorkshire Regiment is the only county-named regiment in the British Army. Its home is the county of Yorkshire, including the area up to the historic boundary of the River Tees.
The Regiment has been presented with several Yorkshire-related awards (Welcome to Yorkshire ‘Pride of Yorkshire Award’; Yorkshire Society ‘Special Award’) in recognition of the service it has given to the county and has developed strong civic, ecclesiastical, sporting, and social links across the region.
York Minster was adopted as the Regimental chapel on formation. The Regiment celebrated formation there in 2007 and has since held its annual church service, two homecoming services, and the dedication of new Colours in the presence of its Colonel in Chief.
The Regiment is today comprised of three battalions:
1st Battalion - Light Mechanised Infantry, experts in close combat equipped with highly mobile Foxhound and Jackal vehicles and the full suite of infantry weapons. Able to deploy rapidly to operate in any conflict, combining manoeuvre and firepower to gain battle-winning advantage.
2nd Battalion - Light Infantry force at the heart of developing, testing and challenging Infantry warfighting concepts and capabilities. The Army’s Next Generation Combat Team, equipped with the latest generation of autonomous platforms and information and night vision systems, working with industry, partners, and allies.
4th Battalion – Yorkshire and Teesside-based Reserve Infantry, frequently deployed on some of the most challenging and demanding activities the Army Reserve undertakes, from delivering on operations, to training with key Allies and contributing to UK Resilience such as Covid testing and flood relief.