Regimental History
The Royal Yeomanry (RY) was formed on 1 April 1967 following the amalgamation of five distinguished old county Yeomanry Regiments. Each of the five squadrons of the Royal Yeomanry carries forward the traditions and memories of their ancestor regiment. For more information about the squadrons’ histories, click on the Squadron links on the left of this page and then choose “history”.
Originally employed as a medium reconnaissance regiment during the Cold War, the Royal Yeomanry’s role changed in in the 1990s to providing both main battle tank crews and soldiers for the Joint Nuclear Biological and Chemical (NBC) Regiment.
In January 2003 the Royal Yeomanry deployed two of its squadrons for the Iraq war as part of the Joint NBC Regiment. It was the first mobilisation of a Territorial Army unit as a formed body (TA soldiers under TA command) for combat operations since the Suez crisis in 1956. Overall over 200 members of the Regiment have deployed on operational tours to Iraq since 2003.
 In recognition of its service in the liberation of Iraq, the Royal Yeomanry was presented with the battle honour ‘Iraq 2003’ on 11 November 2005, the first and only battle honour presented to a TA unit since the Second World War.
Since the Iraq war, the importance of the CBRN (Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear) role, as it is now called, has been acknowledged and in 2005 all five of the RY’s squadrons adopted it.
In September 2006 the regiment formally adopted a single capbadge to replace the five individual squadron capbadges. The new capbadge is based upon the personal cypher of our Royal Honourary Colonel HRH Princess Alexandra, with the intertwined “A”s surmounted by her coronet.
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