The Museum has just undergone a fantastic £360,000 refurbishment and was formally re-opened by Prince Michael of Kent. The overhaul was made possible by a year of fundraising and a grant of £144,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Prince Michael of Kent served for 19 years in the 11th Hussars and the Royal Hussars, both foreunners of the KRH.
Sir Norman Wisdom also attended the grand ceremony. Sir Norman joined the 10th Hussars as a teenager in 1930 and served in India until returning home to UK in 1936. Sir Norman was a huge hit with current serving members of the Regiment. There were also more than 150 Old Comrades from all the founding Regiments who attended the opening ceremony.
Please view photos of the grand re-opening, or better still VISIT HorsePower and see for yourself.
The Regimental Museum for The King's Royal Hussars is located with Home Headquarters (South) in Peninsula Barracks in Winchester. The museum is open to the public and gives an excellent account of the history of The King's Royal Hussars and its former Regiments. As well as period displays there are a number of armoured vehicles outside the museum so that visitors can see the range of vehicles that have been used by our predecessor Regiments through the ages.
Opening hours for the HorsePower Museum are as follows:
Tue - Fri: 1000-1245hrs and 1330-1600 hrs
Weekends & Bank Holidays: 1200-1600 hrs
FREE ADMISSION and PARKING beside the museum.
As well as information about the Regimental museum it is intended to publish information about various events and activities sponsored by Home Headquarters on this page. Keep checking back to see if any links have been added.
The King's Royal Hussars Museum
Peninsula Barracks, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 8TS
Tel: 01962 828539
You can also visit the Winchester Military Museums site by clicking on the logo below.
The Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) were formed by the amalgamation of the 10th Royal Hussars (PWO) and the 11th Hussars (PAO - Prince Albert's Own) on 25 October 1969. The original Regiments were raised in 1715 as Light Dragoons at the time of the Jacobite rebellion and afterwards served in the Seven Years War. The Tenth campaigned in the Peninsula War and both Regiments fought at Waterloo. The Eleventh saw action in Egypt in 1800 and also fought in the Peninsula where they were nicknamed the "Cherrypickers".
The Eleventh escorted Prince Albert from Dover for his marriage to Queen Victoria in 1840. They were honoured with the title of 'Prince Albert's Own' and privileged to wear the distinctive crimson trousers of the Prince's Coburg household. Both Regiments were in the Crimea, and the Eleventh took part in the famous charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava where they gained one of the first Victoria Crosses to be awarded. The Tenth, now known as the "Shiners", were awarded two Victoria Crosses in the South African War. Both saw long service in India.
The Regiments fought in France from 1914 to 1918 largely in a dismounted role. Horses gave way to mechanisation with the Eleventh being the first cavalry in the Army to be equipped with armoured cars in 1928. The Tenth were given light tanks in 1937. They both earned distinction in their armoured roles in the Second World War, and the battle honour of El Alamein is shared by both the old and the new Regiment. Since 1945 the Regiments have played their full part in the British Army of the Rhine and many overseas stations.
On 4 December 1992 the Royal Hussars (PWO) amalgamated with 14th/20th King's Hussars to become The King's Royal Hussars, an Armoured Regiment equipped with Challenger 1 tanks. The King's Royal Hussars were are based in Munster, Germany and returned to Tidworth at the end of 1999. The Regiment has seen active service in Bosnia, Kosovo, Northen Ireland (twice) and Iraq in 2005
Recruits for the regiment receive their initial training at the Army Training Regiment, Winchester before moving to Bovington in Dorset to carry out their initial training on the Challenger 2 Main Battle Tank..
