The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeth's Own) Cap Badge: History, Symbolism and Collecting Guide

Introduction

The cap badge of The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeths’ Own) has roots far older than the regiment itself. The skull and crossed bones — the Death’s Head — came from the regiment raised by Colonel John Hale in 1759 and later known as the 17th Lancers. Beneath it are the words OR GLORY, completing the old regimental motto, Death or Glory. In the present Royal Lancers badge the Death’s Head sits over crossed lances, carrying that tradition into the modern regiment.

The Royal Lancers was formed on 2 May 2015 through the amalgamation of the 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales’s) and The Queen’s Royal Lancers. The title Queen Elizabeths’ Own came two years later, when Queen Elizabeth II granted the honorific suffix on 5 April 2017 while presenting the regiment with its new Guidon at Windsor Castle.

Behind those two parent regiments stand six principal lancer lineages: the 5th Royal Irish Lancers, 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers, 12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales’s), 16th The Queen’s Lancers, 17th Lancers (The Duke of Cambridge’s Own) and 21st Lancers (Empress of India’s).

The history behind the badge includes Blenheim, Waterloo, the Sikh Wars, Balaklava, Ulundi and Omdurman, followed by service through both World Wars and the transition from horses to armoured reconnaissance.

About This Guide

This article has been checked against current British Army material, The Royal Lancers Regimental Association and its museums, the National Army Museum, Royal Household records, The London Gazette, Army Dress Regulations and established histories of the antecedent regiments.

Where reliable sources differ on a particular detail, this is noted in the relevant section.

Formation of The Royal Lancers

On 2 May 2015 the 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales’s) and The Queen’s Royal Lancers amalgamated to form The Royal Lancers. Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of York attended the amalgamation ceremony at Richmond Castle in North Yorkshire.

Both regiments already represented several generations of earlier amalgamations. The 9th/12th Royal Lancers had been formed on 11 September 1960 from the 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers and the 12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales’s).

The Queen’s Royal Lancers dated from 25 June 1993, when the 16th/5th The Queen’s Royal Lancers and the 17th/21st Lancers came together. Those two formations had themselves emerged from the cavalry reductions of 1922.

Six historic lancer regiments therefore stand behind today’s Royal Lancers:

• 5th Royal Irish Lancers
• 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers
• 12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales’s)
• 16th The Queen’s Lancers
• 17th Lancers (The Duke of Cambridge’s Own)
• 21st Lancers (Empress of India’s)

Queen Elizabeths’ Own — 2017

When the regiment was created in 2015 its title was simply The Royal Lancers.

On 5 April 2017 Queen Elizabeth II presented the regiment with its new Guidon in St George’s Hall at Windsor Castle. During the ceremony she granted the honorific suffix Queen Elizabeths’ Own to mark her 70th anniversary as Colonel-in-Chief and to recognise the regiment’s service to both herself and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

Official notices published after the grant use the expanded title The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeths’ Own), which remains the regiment’s title today.

Key Dates

The Royal Lancers Cap Badge: How the Design Developed

Hale’s Regiment and the Death’s Head

The Death’s Head dates from the regiment raised by Colonel John Hale after the British victory at Quebec in 1759.

Major-General James Wolfe was mortally wounded at Quebec on 13 September 1759. Hale, then of the 47th Foot, returned to Britain with news of the victory and was commissioned to raise a new light dragoon regiment.

The unit was initially numbered the 18th Light Dragoons. In 1763 it became the 17th Light Dragoons. The later 17th Lancers nevertheless dated its history from Hale’s original raising in 1759.

Hale chose a skull and crossed bones in memory of Wolfe, accompanied by the words OR GLORY. The Death’s Head remained part of the regiment’s identity as it developed from light dragoons into lancers.

The Queen’s Royal Lancers

The 17th and 21st Lancers amalgamated in 1922 to form the 17th/21st Lancers. The Death or Glory device survived the amalgamation and remained central to the new regiment.

Through the two regiments it inherited the traditions of Balaklava and Omdurman.

On 25 June 1993 the 17th/21st Lancers amalgamated with the 16th/5th The Queen’s Royal Lancers to form The Queen’s Royal Lancers.

The regiment kept the 17th/21st’s Death’s Head cap badge — known as The Motto — with the skull and crossed thighbones above the scroll OR GLORY. A scarlet backing associated with the 16th/5th tradition was added.

The Royal Lancers Cap Badge

When The Royal Lancers was formed in 2015, crossed lances were added behind the Death’s Head.

The National Army Museum holds an officer’s Royal Lancers beret badge dating from about 2019. It records the construction as Staybright, cloth and bullion and describes the design as a skull and crossed bones over two crossed lances, with “Or Glory” below.

The current British Army also describes the skull-and-crossbones cap badge as “The Motto”.

The Guidon and the Cap Badge

The Royal Lancers Guidon carries more heraldic detail than the badge worn on the beret.

Army Dress Regulations (All Ranks), Part 14, which covers Standards, Guidons, Colours and related ceremonial items, describes the Royal Lancers Guidon as carrying a Royal Cypher within a circle bearing the title THE ROYAL LANCERS, surrounded by a Universal Wreath and surmounted by a crown. Beneath it is the Death’s Head over crossed lances with the scroll OR GLORY.

The Royal Cypher and crown therefore belong to the Guidon design rather than the documented Royal Lancers beret cap badge.

The October 2022 revision of Part 14 also provides for the EIIR cypher and the crown associated with Queen Elizabeth II to be replaced by CIIIR and the new crown on Standards, Guidons, Colours and related accoutrements when those items require replacement.

What the Royal Lancers Cap Badge Means

The Death’s Head

The skull and crossed bones come from Hale’s regiment and commemorate Major-General James Wolfe, who was mortally wounded at Quebec in 1759.

OR GLORY

The words OR GLORY, read with the Death’s Head above them, give the historic motto Death or Glory. This is why the badge is known within the regiment as The Motto.

The Crossed Lances

The crossed lances identify the badge with the lancer arm. Although the six principal antecedent regiments did not all begin as lancer formations, each eventually became part of Britain’s lancer tradition.

The Six Principal Antecedent Lancer Regiments

The 5th Royal Irish Lancers

The oldest strand begins at Inniskilling, now Enniskillen, in June 1689. Colonel James Wynne raised a regiment of dragoons which fought for William III against James II at the Boyne in 1690 and Aughrim in 1691.

It later served in Flanders and during the War of the Spanish Succession. Its actions included Blenheim in 1704, Ramillies in 1706, Oudenarde in 1708 and Malplaquet in 1709. At Blenheim the regiment captured three French cavalry kettledrums, while its service at Ramillies helped secure the distinction of being styled the Royal Dragoons of Ireland.

In 1751 it was ranked as the 5th (Royal Irish) Regiment of Dragoons.

The lineage was interrupted in 1799 when the regiment was disbanded. A new 5th Regiment of Dragoons was raised in 1858, during the Indian Mutiny and shortly after the Crimean War, and became a lancer regiment three years later.

The re-formed 5th was placed 18th rather than fifth in cavalry precedence. This later affected the order of the title when it amalgamated with the 16th.

Two squadrons served in the Sudan in 1884–85, including actions at Hasheen and Tamai and a charge at Suakin. The regiment later fought in the South African War, charging at Elandslaagte on 21 October 1899 before becoming part of the besieged garrison at Ladysmith.

The Curragh and the First World War

In March 1914 the 5th was stationed at the Curragh in Ireland as part of 3rd Cavalry Brigade. Officers of the 5th and 16th became caught up in the political crisis surrounding the proposed use of the Army against opponents of Home Rule in Ulster. The episode became known as the Curragh incident.

Only a few months later the brigade went to France with the British Expeditionary Force. The 5th was heavily involved in the mobile fighting of 1914 and gained the distinction of being the last cavalry regiment to withdraw from Mons during the retreat.

During the fighting around Bourlon Wood on 28–29 November 1917, Private George William Burdett Clare repeatedly went into exposed ground as a stretcher-bearer to treat and recover wounded men. He also manned an abandoned post and moved along the line warning troops of gas before being killed. He was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously.

Four years after the retreat from Mons, the 5th was the first British regiment to re-enter the town during the final advance of November 1918. Private George Ellison of the regiment was killed nearby only minutes before the Armistice came into effect and is recorded by the National Army Museum as the final British casualty of the war.

In 1919 the regiment moved to Risalpur in India. It was disbanded there in 1921, but a single squadron was re-raised the following year and amalgamated with the 16th The Queen’s Lancers to form the 16th/5th Lancers.

The 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers

Colonel Owen Wynne raised the 9th at Bedford in 1715 during the First Jacobite Rebellion. It became the 9th Regiment of Dragoons in 1751, the 9th Light Dragoons in 1783 and a lancer regiment in 1816.

In 1830 it received the title 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers in honour of Queen Adelaide, consort of William IV.

The regiment’s long association with India began in the 1840s. It fought in the Gwalior campaign and the Sikh Wars. At Gujerat in 1849 the 9th made a successful charge against Sikh cavalry and captured two standards.

During the Indian Mutiny the regiment fought at Delhi and Lucknow and became known as the “Delhi Spearmen”. The National Army Museum and The Gazette record twelve Victoria Crosses won by the regiment during the campaign, while one Royal Lancers historical overview gives thirteen.

Killa Kazi — 11 December 1879

During the Second Afghan War the 9th fought at Charasiab, Kabul and Kandahar, but one of its hardest actions came near Killa Kazi.

A mixed force of 126 men of the 9th Lancers and 44 Bengal Lancers was ordered to charge in an attempt to delay an Afghan force estimated at around 10,000 men. Broken ground and irrigation ditches disrupted the attack. The 9th lost 18 officers and men killed, ten wounded and 46 horses.

The regiment later joined General Sir Frederick Roberts on the celebrated relief march from Kabul to Kandahar.

The 9th returned to active service in the South African War of 1899–1902. It fought at Belmont, Modder River and Magersfontein during the early campaign before taking part in the advance which relieved Kimberley and the fighting at Paardeberg in 1900.

Francis Grenfell and Moncel

The 9th served on the Western Front throughout the First World War.

On 24 August 1914, at Audregnies in Belgium, Captain Francis Octavius Grenfell distinguished himself during a charge against unbroken German infantry and later helped save the guns of 119 Battery, Royal Field Artillery, near Doubon. He was awarded the Victoria Cross and became the first British VC recipient of the First World War to have his award announced in The London Gazette.

Less than two weeks later, on 7 September, Lieutenant-Colonel David Campbell led RHQ and two troops of B Squadron against the 1st Garde Dragoner at Moncel. Regimental history records it as the last significant lance-against-lance action of the First World War.

The regiment mechanised in 1936. During the Second World War it fought in France, North Africa and Italy and played a leading part at El Alamein.

The 12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales’s)

Brigadier-General Phineas Bowles raised the regiment at Reading in July 1715. It became the 12th Regiment of Dragoons in 1751 and received the Prince of Wales’s prefix, motto and crest in 1768.

Egypt, the Peninsula and Waterloo

The 12th saw service in the Mediterranean during the French Revolutionary Wars before deploying to Egypt in 1801. It fought at Roman Camp, Alexandria, Rahmanieh and Cairo, earning its first battle honour for the campaign.

The future Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley, had served as a lieutenant in the regiment between 1789 and 1791.

The 12th later fought through the Peninsular War and at Waterloo on 18 June 1815. There it charged in support of the Union Brigade and suffered severely during the withdrawal, losing around a third of its strength in roughly ten minutes.

The regiment became lancers in 1816. The Royal prefix followed in 1817.

The Birkenhead and Crimea

In 1851 the 12th sailed to the Cape for the Eighth Xhosa War. A detachment was aboard HMS Birkenhead when the troopship struck a rock and sank off the South African coast in February 1852. Cornet Bond of the regiment was among the survivors.

The 12th arrived in the Crimea in 1855, after the Charge of the Light Brigade, and served as part of the reinforced Light Brigade, earning the honour Sevastopol.

Further service followed during the Indian Mutiny and the South African War. In South Africa the regiment took part in the Relief of Kimberley, Paardeberg and Diamond Hill, where its commanding officer, the Earl of Airlie, was killed.

During the First World War the regiment fought on the Western Front. On 28 August 1914 C Squadron made a successful mounted action at Moy against Prussian dragoons.

Armoured Cars and Post-War Service

The 12th gave up its horses in 1928 and became an armoured-car regiment. During the Second World War it fought in France in 1940 and covered the withdrawal towards Dunkirk before serving in North Africa at Gazala, Alam el Halfa, El Alamein and Tunis.

From 1944 the regiment fought in Italy. B Squadron troops were among the first to enter Venice at the end of April 1945, and the regiment finished the war near Trieste.

After the war the 12th carried out security duties in Palestine. In 1951 it deployed to Malaya for security operations during the Emergency. Service in Germany and Cyprus followed before the 1960 amalgamation with the 9th.

The 16th The Queen’s Lancers

Colonel John Burgoyne raised the 16th Light Dragoons in 1759 during the Seven Years War.

The regiment served in Portugal in 1762, where its conduct brought a close association with Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, and the right to use her cypher. Regimental history records the unit being styled 16th The Queen’s Light Dragoons in 1766.

The regiment subsequently fought in the American War of Independence, in Flanders during the French Revolutionary Wars, throughout the Peninsular War and at Waterloo. It became a lancer regiment in 1816, and in 1861 adopted the title 16th (The Queen’s) Lancers.

Bhurtpore — 1825

After arriving in India, the 16th saw active service at Bhurtpore. On 10 December 1825 it encountered and charged a force of Jat horsemen outside the fortress city.

Regimental history remembers this as the first occasion on which the British Army bloodied its lances in battle.

The regiment later served during the First Afghan War and the Gwalior campaign before fighting its best-known action at Aliwal.

Aliwal and the Scarlet Lancers

At Aliwal on 28 January 1846 the 16th charged Sikh cavalry before attacking artillery and infantry positions. The battle became the regiment’s defining action and is still remembered by The Royal Lancers today.

The old story of the pennons being so heavily stained after the charge that they stood stiff when unfurled produced the tradition of starching and crimping them 16 times.

That same year the Army ordered light cavalry regiments to adopt blue tunics. The 16th successfully petitioned to retain scarlet and became known as the Scarlet Lancers. The colour later survived into the backing worn with the Death or Glory badge.

Later, on 17 August 1897, Lieutenant Viscount Fincastle of the 16th Lancers was serving on the North-West Frontier at Nawa Kili when he joined a small rescue party attempting to reach a wounded officer under close fire. One member of the rescue party was mortally wounded and four horses were shot. Fincastle received the Victoria Cross for his part in the action.

The 16th later fought in the South African War, including the Relief of Kimberley and Paardeberg. During the First World War it served continuously in France and Flanders.

Among the regiment’s former soldiers was Sir William Robertson, who had joined the 16th as a private and eventually became a Field Marshal and Chief of the Imperial General Staff — the only British soldier to rise from private soldier to Field Marshal.

The 17th Lancers — Death or Glory

The regiment which became the 17th Lancers began with John Hale’s light dragoons in 1759. Initially numbered the 18th Light Dragoons, it became the 17th in 1763.

The Death’s Head and OR GLORY were part of its identity from the beginning. The regiment later became widely known as the Death or Glory Boys.

Early Service

The regiment served extensively during the American War of Independence, fighting at Bunker Hill, Long Island, White Plains and Crooked Billet before serving with Tarleton’s Legion in the southern colonies. It was among the British troops captured at Yorktown in 1781.

During the French Revolutionary Wars the regiment served in the West Indies, including the capture of Santo Domingo in 1796. It took part in the unsuccessful British expedition to Buenos Aires in 1806 before moving on to India, where it served in the Third Maratha War of 1817–18.

The regiment returned to Britain in 1823, by which time the Army had redesignated it as a lancer regiment.

Balaklava — 25 October 1854

The 17th formed part of the front line of the Light Brigade at Balaklava and charged down the North Valley towards the Russian guns.

The regimental history records 147 members of the 17th taking part in the charge, with only 38 answering roll call afterwards.

Three members of the regiment received the Victoria Cross for gallantry connected with the action: Troop Sergeant-Major John Berryman, Sergeant John Farrell and Sergeant-Major Charles Wooden.

Berryman and Farrell helped bring the badly wounded Captain Webb from the field under fire. Wooden, together with Surgeon James Mouat, went to the assistance of the dangerously wounded Lieutenant-Colonel Morris.

India and Evelyn Wood VC

The 17th went to India during the final stages of the Indian Mutiny. A squadron spent months pursuing the rebel leader Tantia Topi across central India.

During that pursuit Lieutenant Evelyn Wood, who later became a Field Marshal, earned the Victoria Cross after attacking rebels and helping rescue a captured native soldier.

In 1876, the Duke of Cambridge became the regiment’s Colonel-in-Chief and the unit took his name as the 17th (The Duke of Cambridge’s Own) Lancers.

Ulundi — 4 July 1879

The regiment returned to active service in Zululand in 1879 following the British defeat at Isandlwana.

At Ulundi the 17th initially stood within the British infantry square as Zulu attacks were beaten back. When the attack faltered, the regiment was ordered out of the square to charge.

The 17th broke into the retreating Zulu force and pursued it for around two miles. Ulundi brought organised Zulu resistance in the campaign to an end.

The South African War and Brian Lawrence VC

The 17th served again in South Africa during the Boer War.

On 7 August 1900 Sergeant Brian Turner Lawrence was on patrol at Essenbosch Farm with Private Hayman when they were attacked by a party of Boers. After Hayman’s horse was shot and Hayman was injured, Lawrence gave him his own horse and held off the enemy with both carbines until his comrade was clear. He then withdrew on foot under pursuit.

Lawrence received the Victoria Cross and later rose to lieutenant-colonel.

The First World War and Ireland

The 17th was stationed in India when war broke out in 1914 and reached the Western Front later that year as part of the Indian Cavalry Division.

Like other cavalry regiments it spent long periods fighting dismounted in trenches while remaining ready to exploit any breakthrough. It served at Festubert and on the Somme before returning to mounted operations at Cambrai in 1917.

During the German Spring Offensive of 1918 the regiment fought a series of mounted and dismounted actions. Its regimental history records one DSO, six Military Crosses and six Military Medals being won during the first fifteen days of the fighting.

From 1919 the regiment spent two years serving in Ireland during the War of Independence. It returned to England in 1921 and amalgamated with the 21st the following year.

The “Horse Marines”

The 17th also acquired the nickname “Horse Marines” after cavalrymen served aboard ship in the West Indies during the 1790s. The tradition later became associated with the unusual regimental custom of remaining seated during the National Anthem.

Sources disagree over the name of the ship. The current British Army, National Army Museum and Royal Lancers histories identify HMS Success, while older published histories, including John S. Farmer’s The Regimental Records of the British Army, give HMS Hermione. The sea-service tradition itself is well established, but the ship’s identity remains disputed.

The 21st Lancers (Empress of India’s)

Several British cavalry formations carried the number 21 before the regiment which eventually charged at Omdurman. The Royal Lancers’ own history records these earlier formations, beginning with a 21st Light Dragoons raised in 1760, although they were later disbanded.

The continuous lineage of the Omdurman regiment is generally traced from the 3rd Bengal European Light Cavalry, raised by the East India Company in 1858.

After transfer to Crown control it became the 21st Light Dragoons in May 1861 and was redesignated the 21st Hussars shortly afterwards. The National Army Museum gives 1862 for the Hussar designation, while regimental and contemporary historical accounts place the change in 1861.

The regiment converted from hussars to lancers in 1897.

Omdurman — 2 September 1898

The 21st was the only regular British cavalry regiment serving with the Anglo-Egyptian army during the reconquest of the Sudan.

At Omdurman it was ordered to cut the Mahdist line of retreat. What appeared to be a comparatively small enemy force concealed several thousand men in a dry watercourse.

The regiment charged through the position, disengaged and continued the fight dismounted with carbines. It lost 21 men killed and 50 wounded.

Three Victoria Crosses were awarded for actions during the charge:

• Captain Paul Aloysius Kenna VC, who helped Major Crole-Wyndham to safety after his horse was killed and then returned to assist Lieutenant de Montmorency.
• Private Thomas Byrne VC, who turned back while already wounded to assist the wounded Lieutenant Molyneux, enabling him to escape.
• Lieutenant Raymond de Montmorency VC, who returned after the charge in an attempt to rescue Second Lieutenant Grenfell from a large body of Dervishes.

Lieutenant Winston Churchill of the 4th Hussars was attached to the 21st for the campaign and rode in the charge.

Queen Victoria subsequently granted the regiment the title Empress of India’s.

Charles Hull VC — 5 September 1915

The 21st returned to India before the First World War and remained there when the main British Army deployed to Europe.

On 5 September 1915, during fighting near Shabkadar on the North-West Frontier, Shoeing Smith Charles Hull saw Captain Learoyd trapped after his horse had been shot.

Under close enemy fire Hull freed the officer, took him up behind him on his own horse and carried him to safety. He was awarded the Victoria Cross.

Although the regiment did not serve in France as a complete unit, one squadron was sent to the Western Front in 1916 and served there for a year.

After the war the 21st returned to Britain and was disbanded in 1921. A single squadron was reconstituted in 1922 and immediately amalgamated with the 17th Lancers to form the 17th/21st Lancers.

Selected Victoria Crosses and Gallantry

The following selection includes some of the Victoria Crosses most closely associated with the Royal Lancers’ antecedent regiments rather than attempting to reproduce every award.

From Horse Cavalry to Armoured Reconnaissance

By the twentieth century the horse was steadily disappearing from the battlefield, but the traditional cavalry job of finding the enemy and reporting what lay ahead remained essential.

The 12th Lancers moved to armoured cars in 1928, the 9th mechanised in 1936 and the 17th/21st followed in 1938 while stationed in India. The 16th/5th was still mounted when the Second World War began and returned to Britain in 1940 to convert to armoured warfare.

The vehicles changed, but much of the old cavalry role survived: moving ahead of the main force, locating the enemy, screening friendly troops and passing information back to commanders. Those duties developed into the armoured reconnaissance role carried out by The Royal Lancers today.

The Amalgamated Regiments

16th/5th The Queen’s Royal Lancers

The 16th and 5th amalgamated in 1922 as the 16th/5th Lancers.

The order of the numbers reflected cavalry precedence. When the 5th was re-formed in 1858 it had been placed 18th rather than fifth, so it followed the 16th in the title of the new regiment.

The regiment remained horse-mounted through much of the inter-war period and finally handed over its horses before returning from India to Britain in January 1940.

It then converted to armour as part of the formation which became 26th Armoured Brigade, 6th Armoured Division. During the Second World War the 16th/5th fought in North Africa and Italy.

Princess Elizabeth became Colonel-in-Chief in 1947. The regiment spent five years in Egypt from 1948 and served repeatedly with the British Army of the Rhine in West Germany.

In 1954 it became the 16th/5th The Queen’s Royal Lancers, taking “The Queen’s” from the 16th and “Royal” from the 5th.

Individual squadrons served in Hong Kong and Aden during the 1960s. The full regiment spent two years in Northern Ireland from 1971, while squadrons later served with United Nations peacekeeping missions in Cyprus and Beirut.

Its final major operation as an independent regiment was the Gulf War of 1990–91, where it served in reconnaissance with 4th Armoured Division.

17th/21st Lancers

The 17th and 21st amalgamated in 1922. National Army Museum material dates the formal amalgamation to 27 June.

The regiment retained the Death or Glory tradition and mechanised in 1938.

During the Second World War it served with 6th Armoured Division in North Africa. Fighting in Tunisia proved particularly costly. At the Fondouk Pass on 8–9 April 1943 the regiment was ordered to force a heavily defended route through minefields and anti-tank positions.

The attack cost eleven men killed and 32 wounded, while 32 tanks were put out of action, 27 of them beyond further use.

The regiment later fought in Italy, including service on the Gothic Line and in the Po Valley.

After the war it served in Greece, Egypt and Palestine before spending much of the Cold War as part of Britain’s NATO forces in West Germany. Other deployments included Hong Kong, Borneo, Aden, Libya, Belize, Kuwait, Cyprus and repeated tours in Northern Ireland.

During the Gulf War of 1990–91 the 17th/21st did not deploy as a complete regiment. It supplied more than two squadrons of personnel and much of its equipment to reinforce other armoured regiments serving with 1st (UK) Armoured Division. The regimental band deployed in its wartime medical role.

9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales’s)

The 9th and 12th amalgamated at Tidworth on 11 September 1960 to form the 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales’s).

The regiment subsequently served in Northern Ireland, Aden, Germany and Cyprus and moved between armoured and armoured-reconnaissance roles.

During Operation GRANBY in 1990–91, D Squadron and other elements deployed to Saudi Arabia in support of the operation to liberate Kuwait. Personnel later served in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Further deployments included Operation TELIC in Iraq and service in Afghanistan.

The Queen’s Royal Lancers

The 16th/5th The Queen’s Royal Lancers and the 17th/21st Lancers amalgamated on 25 June 1993 to form The Queen’s Royal Lancers.

The regiment retained the 17th/21st’s Death or Glory cap badge and added the scarlet backing associated with the 16th/5th.

The Queen’s Royal Lancers served in Cyprus, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Its service in Iraq was formally recognised in 2006 when the regiment was awarded the theatre honour IRAQ 2003 and the battle honour AL BASRAH.

In 2015 The Queen’s Royal Lancers amalgamated with the 9th/12th Royal Lancers to form The Royal Lancers.

The Royal Lancers on Operations Since 2015

The operational history of The Royal Lancers itself begins on 2 May 2015. Campaigns before that date belong to the antecedent regiments, although their honours and traditions remain part of the Royal Lancers inheritance.

Since its formation the regiment’s own history records operational service on:

• Operation ELGIN — Bosnia and Kosovo
• Operation TOSCA — Cyprus
• Operation ORBITAL — Ukraine

The regiment has also deployed to Poland on Operation CABRIT as part of NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence. A British Army account of one deployment records around 140 Royal Lancers personnel serving in Poland alongside allied forces.

Royal Lancers personnel have continued peacekeeping duties in Kosovo and Cyprus while the regiment has also been converting to and training on Ajax.

The Regiment Today

As of August 2026, The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeths’ Own) is an armoured cavalry regiment of the Royal Armoured Corps specialising in reconnaissance.

It serves in 3rd Deep Reconnaissance Strike Brigade. Royal Lancers operate ahead of the main force, gathering information through mounted and dismounted reconnaissance and helping locate targets for other battlefield systems.

The regiment is mounted on the Ajax armoured fighting vehicle. Current British Army information also lists Ares, the general-purpose machine gun, L129A1 sharpshooter rifle, SA80 individual weapon and small uncrewed aerial systems among the equipment used by Royal Lancers personnel.

The regiment remains based at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire.

On 21 July 2026 the Defence Infrastructure Organisation confirmed that new facilities were being prepared at Tidworth and that The Royal Lancers are due to relocate there from Catterick from 2027.

Traditions and Regimental Identity

Aliwal Pennons

The lance survives on ceremonial occasions even though it disappeared as an operational British cavalry weapon long ago.

The Royal Lancers continue the 16th Lancers’ Aliwal tradition by starching and crimping lance pennons 16 times. The current British Army account states that half of the pennons carried on parade are crimped in this way.

The Scarlet Tradition

The 16th Lancers successfully resisted the move to blue uniforms for light cavalry in 1846 and became known as the Scarlet Lancers.

Scarlet survived the later amalgamations and was carried into The Queen’s Royal Lancers as the backing worn with the Motto.

The Horse Marines

The regiment preserves the “Horse Marines” tradition inherited from the 17th Lancers. The current British Army account associates it with troops serving aboard HMS Success in the West Indies during the 1790s.

The tradition is also linked with the unusual privilege allowing The Royal Lancers to remain seated during the playing of the National Anthem.

Royal Connections

Queen Elizabeth II’s association with this regimental family began long before The Royal Lancers was formed. King George VI appointed Princess Elizabeth Colonel-in-Chief of the 16th/5th Lancers on her 21st birthday in 1947, and she retained the connection through later amalgamations until her death in 2022.

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother was closely associated with the 9th and later the 9th/12th Royal Lancers. Those connections lay behind the Queen Elizabeths’ Own honorific granted in 2017.

Queen Camilla was appointed Colonel-in-Chief on 8 June 2023. Her father, Major Bruce Shand, had served with the 12th Lancers in North Africa during the Second World War.

Collecting and Identifying Royal Lancers Cap Badges

Identifying the Modern Badge

The modern Royal Lancers beret badge has three principal elements:

• the Death’s Head — a skull and crossed bones;
• two crossed lances behind it;
• the words OR GLORY below.

The Royal Cypher, crown and regimental title found in the Guidon design are separate from the beret cap badge.

Officers’ and Other Forms

Materials and construction can vary according to the type of badge and the order of dress, so it is unwise to assume that every officer’s badge uses one material and every other-ranks badge another.

The National Army Museum’s Royal Lancers officer’s beret badge dating from about 2019, for example, is catalogued as Staybright, cloth and bullion.

Period, construction, order of dress and provenance are best considered together when assessing an example.

Fixings, Construction and Maker’s Marks

Reverse fittings, materials, construction and maker’s marks can all help identify a badge, but none is conclusive by itself.

A genuine maker’s mark may identify the manufacturer, but it does not automatically prove official issue. Weight and apparent age are also unreliable on their own, particularly with better-quality reproductions.

Provenance

Good provenance can add considerably to a badge. Photographs, service records, named groups or documentation linking an example to a particular soldier provide both historical interest and a clearer record of where the item came from.

Collecting the Antecedent Badges

Collectors can trace the insignia through the 5th, 9th, 12th, 16th, 17th and 21st Lancers, followed by the 16th/5th, 17th/21st, 9th/12th and The Queen’s Royal Lancers before reaching the present Royal Lancers pattern.

Frequently Asked Questions

When were The Royal Lancers formed?

2 May 2015. The regiment was formed by amalgamating the 9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales’s) and The Queen’s Royal Lancers.

When did the regiment become Queen Elizabeths’ Own?

Queen Elizabeth II granted the honorific suffix on 5 April 2017 while presenting the regiment with its new Guidon at Windsor Castle.

What does the Royal Lancers cap badge show?

The modern badge shows the Death’s Head — a skull and crossed bones — over two crossed lances, with OR GLORY below.

Why is the Royal Lancers cap badge called “The Motto”?

The Death’s Head represents Death and the scroll beneath it reads OR GLORY. Together they form the historic motto Death or Glory.

Did the 9th Lancers take part in the Charge of the Light Brigade?

No. Within Royal Lancers ancestry it was the 17th Lancers which charged at Balaklava on 25 October 1854.

What is the Royal Lancers connection with Aliwal?

The 16th Lancers distinguished themselves at Aliwal in 1846. The modern regiment preserves the tradition by crimping ceremonial lance pennons 16 times.

What is the Royal Lancers connection with Ulundi?

The 17th Lancers fought at Ulundi on 4 July 1879. After the Zulu attack on the British square had been repulsed, the regiment charged the retreating force and pursued it for around two miles.

What is the Royal Lancers connection with Omdurman?

The 21st Lancers charged at Omdurman on 2 September 1898. Three Victoria Crosses were awarded for actions during the charge, and Winston Churchill rode with the regiment while attached from the 4th Hussars.

Where are The Royal Lancers based?

As of August 2026 the regiment is based at Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire. Ministry of Defence plans provide for the regiment to relocate to Tidworth from 2027.

What vehicles do The Royal Lancers use?

The regiment is an armoured cavalry reconnaissance unit mounted on Ajax. Current British Army information also lists Ares among the equipment used by Royal Lancers personnel.

Where the Royal Lancers’ Heritage is Preserved

The Royal Lancers Museum at Derby covers the history of the 9th and 12th Lancers and the 9th/12th Royal Lancers. Its archives include regimental journals, published histories, medal rolls, casualty material and historic photographs.

The Royal Lancers & Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum at Thoresby preserves material connected with the 5th, 16th, 17th and 21st Lancers and their later amalgamated regiments.

The National Army Museum also holds substantial material relating to the six antecedent regiments and The Royal Lancers, including the c.2019 officer’s beret badge used as one of the main references for the modern cap-badge description in this article.

Further Reading and Sources

The following official, regimental, museum and published sources were used in researching this article.

Official & Government Sources

• British Army — The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeths’ Own) — Current role, traditions, equipment and location.

• Defence Infrastructure Organisation — Construction begins on new Army facilities at Tidworth and Warminster, 21 July 2026 — Confirms the planned relocation of The Royal Lancers from Catterick to Tidworth from 2027.

• The Royal Family — The Queen presents a Guidon to The Royal Lancers, 5 April 2017 — Royal Lancers Guidon presentation and grant of the Queen Elizabeths’ Own title.

• The Gazette — Victoria Cross — Includes Captain Francis Grenfell’s 1914 Victoria Cross.

• The Gazette — David Spence VC — Account of David Spence VC and the 9th Lancers during the Indian Mutiny.

• The London Gazette — Iraq Battle Honours — Records IRAQ 2003 and AL BASRAH for The Queen’s Royal Lancers.

• Ministry of Defence — Army Dress Regulations (All Ranks), Part 14, Home Command PS12, October 2022 — Standards, Guidons, Colours and associated ceremonial items, including the devices carried on the Royal Lancers Guidon.

Regimental History

• The Royal Lancers Regimental Association — The Royal Lancers — Formation, the 2017 honorific and operational service since 2015.

• 5th Lancers History

• 9th Lancers History

• 12th Lancers History

• 16th Lancers History

• 17th Lancers History

• 21st Lancers History

• 16th/5th Lancers History

• 17th/21st Lancers History

• The Queen’s Royal Lancers History

Museum & Published References

• The Royal Lancers — Museums

• National Army Museum — Royal Lancers Officer’s Beret Badge, c.2019

• National Army Museum — 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers

• National Army Museum — 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers

• National Army Museum — 12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales’s)

• National Army Museum — 16th (The Queen’s) Lancers

• National Army Museum — 17th (The Duke of Cambridge’s Own) Lancers

• National Army Museum — 21st (Empress of India’s) Lancers

• National Army Museum — 16th/5th The Queen’s Royal Lancers

• National Army Museum — 17th/21st Lancers

• Farmer, John S. — The Regimental Records of the British Army (1901).

• Kipling, A. L. & King, H. L. — Head-Dress Badges of the British Army.

Officially Licensed Royal Lancers Emblems & Heritage Displays

Precision Military Emblems produces officially licensed Royal Lancers heritage emblems and display pieces from Ministry of Defence-authorised artwork.

• The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeths’ Own) Cap Badge — Officially licensed Royal Lancers heritage emblem.
• The Royal Lancers Heritage Display Frame — Officially licensed Royal Lancers heritage display frame.

These are modern heritage display pieces produced from authorised artwork and are not presented as original issued military cap badges.

About Precision Military Emblems

Precision Military Emblems specialises in officially licensed British military emblems and regimental display pieces produced from authorised Ministry of Defence artwork.

Many of the badges we reproduce carry details inherited from earlier regiments, so researching their history is an important part of reproducing them accurately.

The Royal Lancers was formed in 2015, yet the Death’s Head at the centre of its badge can be traced back to Hale’s cavalry regiment of 1759.