In a ceremony held at Balmoral Castle, King Charles, accompanied by Queen Camilla, presented the Royal Guard with a new ceremonial colour known as the Ballater Colour.
The colour is used by the Royal Guard when they are responsible for guarding Balmoral Castle during the King’s summer residence.
The first Ballater Colour was presented back in 1880 by Queen Victoria. To mark the reign of King Charles III, the King presented this new Ballater Colour to the 51 Infantry Brigade & Headquarters Scotland.
The new colour differs from previous ones in that it displays the Tudor Crown of His Majesty’s cypher, replacing the St Edward’s Crown that was used during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
The retired Ballater Colour from 1996 will remain in Balmoral Castle, joining the Ballater Colours of 1925 and 1973.
Major General Wright CBE expressed it was a privilege to escort the King during the ceremony, which was consecrated by the Chaplain General of His Majesty’s Land Forces, The Reverend Michael Parker KHC CF. Consecration signifies that the Colour is set apart and declared sacred, being blessed on an altar made of drums.
King Charles, i commend you, for you’re doing well
I’m a Royalist simply as the Royal family is one of the eccentricities of the British , it makes us different just as the French ,Germans, Italians and others have their own quirks we have ours. But and a big but I’m not keen on he who talks to plants, and it has become very clear, there was a reason the Queen kept him off the throne for so long . I personally think he and his wife should step aside in favour of his real son and his wife, who come across as far better to fill the shoes of the King and Queen than Charlie
is this a comedy or what.
What do you mean? What is so funny about this story?
Excuse me, I’m an American who lived in England when I was younger. The officer on the left….is that a Royal Marine uniform?
Uk Army Number one dress blues – but not a General. Used for very formal occasions like this.
Princes Harry and William often wear similar and even the King but with extra baubles and as a Field Marshall
Dont know what the red at the neck and the belt signify , probably a particular branch
Thanks
Firstly, official title is The British Army, not U.K. Army.
Red tabs signify a member of the General Staff (nowadays anyone over the rank of Colonel). At that seniority you leave your parent regiment and join the General Staff.
You might also see purple tabs, which is a senior medical officer.
The red sash is simply denotes an officer – all officers were it with No.1 dress full dress. (Except the Rifles /Royal Gurkha Rifles – we like to remain hidden). NCOs were a red sash over the shoulder. Originally an idea similar to US Army vertical and horizontal stripes on the back of the helmet so people can find officers and NCOs quickly in battle.
Most regiments have their own No.1 dress, no standard Army uniform, but it is normally very similar and very dark blue. The Rifles have green with black trousers, Kings Royal Hussars have some sort of bright purple trousers etc.
As this is an area in which I’m pretty clueless, I enjoyed reading that Bob, thanks.
1200 pages of the full British army uniform regulations.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/626107/2017-03109.pdf
Our mystery officer – thanks to clues given others- is page 131 or so ( numbered by the pdf as they have no pg numbers)
Blimey…heavy stuff!
I’m so at home with units and infrastructure and who is who and where but thanks for this, unsure if I can read through all of it!!
It appears my phone corrected wear to were – twice!
The red at the neck are gorget patches denoting that the officer is on the General Staff (GS) and not at Regimental Duty, ie he is a full Colonel or higher – from Colonel onwards an officer wears a GS capbadge not their regimental one. The design of gorget patches change at a particular rank increment – I believe that initially (full Colonel and upwards) the embroidered stripe is dark red but for a 4* General it is gold braid.
Red belt is surely just a sword belt. I don’t know if the colour is significant.
I am not sure who the officer on the left is – he may even be the Lord Lt?
Officer on the right is surely GOC Scotland, Maj Gen William Wright (this used to be a Lt Gen appointment years back).
Lord Lieutenants all wear sliver and red waist sashes on their uniform even if they have no military service. Women just have the sash colours as backing/bow on the chest for the tudor rose badge of Lord Lts and wear normal day clothes.
Thanks mate. You have good knowledge.
“The Royal Guard”? I’m over 60 & never heard of a military or ceremonial unit called that. Are they Beefeaters, Life/Horse guards, one of the infantry/armoured guards units?
The Royal Guard at Balmoral Castle would normally be found from a Foot Guards Battalion on Public Duties, however from time to time other Regiments, Corps or Commonwealth armies are given the honour to do so for a short period of time.
Yes, a Guards Detachment based at Victoria Barracks in Ballater.
Much like the other Guards Dets at Windsor, St James, The Tower of London, and Buckingham Palace.
Other Royal residences like Sandringham are privately owned so in their case Royal Protection Officers.
In London that would be the case. This lot ore from Balaklava Company 5 SCOTS (i.e. The Royal Regiment of Scotland) who are the regiment’s incremental public duties company and are there specifically to do public duties in Scotland (and occasionally London or Windsor). F Company Scots Guards (the incremental public duties company of 1st Bn The Scots Guards) have done it in Scotland too. I’ve been in the Army in Scotland for 27 years, I’ve never known any other country to do the Royal Guard at Balmoral.
Thanks Martine. My reply was broad about PD. Great to have your Scotland-specific knowledge.
Thanks Graham.