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The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Cap Badge: History, Symbolism and Collecting Guide

Contents

Introduction

The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) cap badge brings together two distinct cavalry traditions in a single design.

At its centre is the French Imperial Eagle captured at Waterloo in 1815 by Sergeant Charles Ewart of the 2nd (Royal North British) Dragoons, later the Royal Scots Greys. Behind it are the crossed carbines inherited from the Carabinier tradition. The WATERLOO tablet and ROYAL SCOTS DRAGOON GUARDS scroll identify the battle and the modern regiment.

Formed on 2 July 1971 at Holyrood Park in Edinburgh, the regiment brought together the 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales’s Dragoon Guards) and the Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons). Through them its history reaches back to Scots dragoons raised in 1678 and 1681, and to two English regiments of horse raised in 1685.

Today the regiment is usually abbreviated by the Army as SCOTS DG. It is Scotland’s cavalry regiment, serves as Light Cavalry, specialises in Formation Reconnaissance, and is based at Waterloo Lines, Leuchars, Fife.

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Who Are The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards?

The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) is Scotland’s cavalry regiment. The National Army Museum describes it as Scotland’s senior regiment and, through its inherited seniority, the British Army’s oldest line cavalry regiment. The modern regiment dates from 1971, but its antecedents reach back to the late seventeenth century.

On the Greys side, the lineage developed from companies of Scots Dragoons first raised in 1678 and formed into a regiment in 1681. The Carabinier side descends through the 3rd Dragoon Guards and the 6th Dragoon Guards, both of which originated in regiments of horse raised in 1685.

From Waterloo Lines, Leuchars, Fife, the serving regiment maintains its operational base in Scotland; Home Headquarters and the regimental museum remain at Edinburgh Castle.

In current Army terminology, SCOTS DG is Light Cavalry specialising in Formation Reconnaissance. Its soldiers work well forward of the main force to locate and understand enemy forces and terrain, passing information rapidly to commanders and striking targets when opportunities arise.

Key Dates: A Timeline of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards

Year Event
1678–1681 Three companies of Scots Dragoons are raised in 1678. Three more follow in 1681, forming a regiment under Lieutenant-General Thomas Dalyell of the Binns.
1685 The 4th and 9th Regiments of Horse are raised during the Monmouth Rebellion. Their descendants become the 3rd Dragoon Guards and the Carabiniers.
1689–1697 The antecedent regiments serve in Scotland, Ireland and Flanders during the Nine Years War. The regiment that becomes the Carabiniers fights at the Boyne and receives the title King’s Carabiniers.
1692 King William III confers the title Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons.
1701–1713 The antecedent regiments campaign under Marlborough during the War of the Spanish Succession, including Schellenberg, Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde and Malplaquet.
1707–1713 After the Act of Union the Scots regiment becomes the Royal Regiment of North British Dragoons and is numbered the 2nd Dragoons in 1713.
1715–1745 The 2nd (Royal North British) Dragoons and 4th Horse take part in operations against the Jacobite risings, including Sheriffmuir and Glenshiel.
1743 The 2nd Dragoons and Carabiniers fight at Dettingen during the War of the Austrian Succession.
1746–1747 Following the 1746 decision to convert senior regiments of horse, the 4th Horse becomes the 3rd Dragoon Guards in 1747. The Carabiniers are retitled the 3rd Regiment of Irish Horse and later become the 6th Dragoon Guards in 1788.
1756–1763 The 2nd Dragoons, 3rd Dragoon Guards and the regiment then styled 3rd Irish Horse serve in the Seven Years War, including raids on the French coast and the battles of Minden and Warburg.
1765 The 3rd Dragoon Guards receives the Prince of Wales distinction, from which the feathers and ICH DIEN tradition descend.
1815 At Waterloo, Sergeant Charles Ewart of the 2nd (Royal North British) Dragoons captures the French Imperial Eagle and standard of the 45th Regiment of the Line.
1854 The 2nd Dragoons takes part in the Charge of the Heavy Brigade at Balaklava. John Grieve and Henry Ramage are later awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry during the battle.
1857–1859 The Carabiniers and 3rd Dragoon Guards serve in India during the uprising, the 6th Dragoon Guards taking part in the recapture of Delhi.
1866–1877 The name Royal Scots Greys is formally recognised in 1866; in 1877 the title becomes 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys).
1868 The 3rd Dragoon Guards takes part in the Abyssinian Expedition and the march to Magdala.
1879–1880 The 6th Dragoon Guards serves in Afghanistan, including duties around Jalalabad and the Khyber Pass.
1884–1885 Royal Scots Greys volunteers serve with the Heavy Camel Regiment in the Sudan Expedition and fight at Abu Klea.
1899–1902 The Royal Scots Greys, Carabiniers and 3rd Dragoon Guards all serve in South Africa during the Boer War.
1914–1918 All three principal antecedents serve on the Western Front. The 3rd Dragoon Guards later takes part in mounted actions at Villeselve and Honnechy in 1918.
1919–1921 The 3rd Dragoon Guards and 6th Dragoon Guards serve in Ireland during the Irish War of Independence before their 1922 amalgamation.
1922 The 3rd and 6th Dragoon Guards amalgamate in India as the 3rd/6th Dragoon Guards.
1928 The regiment is retitled the 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales’s Dragoon Guards).
1930s The Royal Scots Greys serves in India and then Palestine, where it is employed during the Arab Revolt of 1936–39.
1938–1941 The 3rd Carabiniers mechanises between 1938 and 1939. The Royal Scots Greys gives up its horses and is ordered to mechanise in May 1941.
1941 Royal Scots Greys officer Geoffrey Keyes is killed leading a commando attack in Libya and is awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously.
1941–1947 The 25th Dragoons, a wartime regiment formed largely from a 3rd Carabiniers cadre, serves in India and Burma before disbanding after Indian independence.
13 April 1944 B Squadron, 3rd Carabiniers supports the assault on Nunshigum Ridge during the Battle of Imphal. The action becomes one of the modern regiment’s principal commemorative days.
1941–1945 The Royal Scots Greys fights in Syria, North Africa and Italy, lands at Juno Beach on 7 June 1944, takes part in Operation Market Garden and advances into Germany; the 3rd Carabiniers fights through the Imphal and Burma campaigns.
1946 onwards The Royal Scots Greys and 3rd Carabiniers serve with the British Army of the Rhine in West Germany, establishing the Cold War armoured tradition continued by the post-1971 regiment.
1952 The Royal Scots Greys undertakes a brief deployment to Libya.
18 June 1956 The Eagle and standard captured by Ewart at Waterloo are formally returned to the Royal Scots Greys at the Royal Hospital Chelsea and later placed on display at Edinburgh Castle.
1961 The 3rd Carabiniers deploys Centurion tanks to Kuwait to deter a threatened Iraqi invasion.
1961–1968 A 3rd Carabiniers squadron serves in Aden in 1961; the regiment changes from tanks to reconnaissance scout cars in 1967 and sends detachments to Cyprus in 1968.
1962–1963 The Royal Scots Greys serves in Aden during the developing emergency before returning to West Germany.
1969–1970 Royal Scots Greys squadrons serve with the United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus.
2 July 1971 The 3rd Carabiniers and Royal Scots Greys amalgamate at Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, to form The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys).
1972–1980 The post-amalgamation regiment completes four operational tours in Northern Ireland, in 1972, 1974, 1976 and 1980.
1970s–1980s For much of the period the regiment serves in West Germany with the British Army of the Rhine, while squadrons also undertake United Nations peacekeeping tours in Cyprus.
1991 The regiment fights in the Gulf War on Operation GRANBY and reaches the Basra Road on the final day of the ground campaign.
1994 The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Regimental Band gives its final concert at the Usher Hall in Edinburgh before being disbanded during Army reductions; the Pipes and Drums continue the musical tradition.
1996–2001 The regiment serves in Bosnia and later Kosovo on NATO peace-support operations. In 1998 it becomes the first British Army unit to operate the Challenger 2 main battle tank.
2003–2008 The regiment completes three Operation TELIC deployments in Iraq, including the 2003 invasion and later tours in 2005 and 2008.
2008–2014 Royal Scots Dragoon Guards personnel serve in Afghanistan on Operation HERRICK in mounted, dismounted, escort and training roles.
2013 The regiment changes from heavy armour to the Light Cavalry role. Its final Challenger 2 is piped out of Fallingbostel and Jackal reconnaissance vehicles replace tanks.
2020s Recent operational commitments include Operation CABRIT in Poland, Operation TOSCA in Cyprus and Operation NEWCOMBE in Mali.
Present SCOTS DG serves as Light Cavalry specialising in Formation Reconnaissance from Waterloo Lines at Leuchars in Fife.

The Regimental Family

Two immediate predecessors came together in 1971, each carrying older regiments and traditions. The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum and Archive recognises the 3rd Dragoon Guards, 6th Dragoon Guards, 3rd Carabiniers, 25th Dragoons, Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons, 2nd (Royal North British) Dragoons, Royal Scots Greys and the post-1971 regiment as part of the wider regimental family.

The Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons)

Three companies of dragoons raised in Scotland in 1678 provide the starting point for the Greys lineage. Three more were added in 1681 to form a regiment under Lieutenant-General Thomas Dalyell of the Binns, and King William III granted the title Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons in 1692.

Following the Act of Union in 1707 the title became the Royal Regiment of North British Dragoons, and the regiment was numbered the 2nd Dragoons in 1713.

Grey horses were already a regimental distinction by the 1690s. The name Royal Scots Greys was formally recognised in the nineteenth century, and in 1877 the regiment became the 2nd Dragoons (Royal Scots Greys).

The 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales’s Dragoon Guards)

Amalgamation of the 3rd Dragoon Guards (Prince of Wales’s) and the 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers) in 1922 created the regiment first known as the 3rd/6th Dragoon Guards. In 1928 it adopted the title 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales’s Dragoon Guards).

Its contribution to the modern cap badge is represented most clearly by the crossed carbines. The Prince of Wales tradition survives elsewhere in regimental dress through the feathers and the motto ICH DIEN.

The 3rd Dragoon Guards (Prince of Wales’s)

Raised in 1685 as the 4th Regiment of Horse, the future 3rd Dragoon Guards went on to serve in the Nine Years War, Marlborough’s campaigns, the Seven Years War, the French Revolutionary Wars, the Peninsular War, Abyssinia, the Boer War and the First World War.

The regiment received the Prince of Wales distinction in 1765, establishing the association with the feathers and ICH DIEN that still appears in Royal Scots Dragoon Guards dress.

The 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers)

Also raised in 1685 was the regiment of horse that became the Carabiniers. Armed with carbines and ranked as the 9th Horse, it later became the 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers).

The regiment served at Dettingen, in the Indian Mutiny, in the Second Afghan War, in South Africa and throughout the First World War. Crossed carbines had appeared on Carabinier buttons and shabraques from the eighteenth century and later formed the centre of the regiment’s cap badge.

The 25th Dragoons

The 25th Dragoons belong to the wider RSDG regimental family rather than the direct line of succession to the 1971 regiment.

They were raised at Sialkot in February 1941. The 3rd Carabiniers supplied most of their officers and the largest contingent of other ranks. The regiment fought in the Arakan during the Burma campaign before remaining in India until its disbandment in 1947.

From Scots Dragoons to Royal Scots Greys

Dragoons — mounted troops able to move quickly and dismount to fight on foot — stand at the beginning of the earliest Scottish line.

The Scots Dragoons campaigned through the political upheavals of the late seventeenth century and then served under Marlborough in the War of the Spanish Succession. At Blenheim in 1704 an eyewitness referred to them as the “Grey Dragoons”, one of the earliest surviving references to the colour with which the regiment became permanently associated.

By the end of the seventeenth century the regiment was mounted on grey horses. That visual distinction survived for generations and eventually gave the Royal Scots Greys their familiar name.

The Nine Years War and the Jacobite Risings

Long before Marlborough’s great campaigns, the antecedent regiments had already seen active service on several fronts.

During the Nine Years War, the 4th Horse served against Jacobite forces in Scotland before going to Flanders. The regiment that became the Carabiniers fought in Ireland, including at the Boyne in 1690, and was rewarded with the title King’s Carabiniers. The Royal Regiment of Scots Dragoons joined the continental campaign in 1694.

Jacobite rebellion brought further service in Scotland. The 2nd (Royal North British) Dragoons fought at Sheriffmuir in 1715 and Glenshiel in 1719, while the 4th Horse was also involved in measures against the 1745 rising.

Marlborough, Ramillies and the Eighteenth Century

Marlborough’s army brought all three principal early antecedents into the War of the Spanish Succession.

The Scots Dragoons, 4th Horse and Carabiniers fought at Schellenberg and Blenheim in 1704. The 4th Horse is recorded as having captured kettledrums and a standard of the Elector of Bavaria’s Guard at Ramillies in 1706. The regiments later fought at Oudenarde and Malplaquet.

During the War of the Austrian Succession, the 2nd Dragoons and Carabiniers fought at Dettingen in 1743. The 2nd Dragoons’ colonel, James Campbell of Lawers, commanded the cavalry and led a successful charge against the French Maison du Roi.

The 1746 decision to reduce the cost of the senior regiments of horse led to their conversion in 1747. The 4th Horse became the 3rd Dragoon Guards. The Carabiniers passed through the title 3rd Regiment of Irish Horse before becoming the 6th Dragoon Guards in 1788.

During the Seven Years War, the 2nd Dragoons and 3rd Dragoon Guards supplied light troops for raids against the French coast. The 2nd Dragoons fought at Minden in 1759, and in 1760 the 2nd Dragoons, 3rd Dragoon Guards and 3rd Irish Horse distinguished themselves at Warburg.

The Napoleonic Wars

During the French Revolutionary campaigns all three regimental lines fought on the Continent. At Willems in 1794, the 2nd Dragoons famously broke into a French infantry square, a rare achievement for cavalry.

Peninsular service took the 3rd Dragoon Guards to actions including Talavera, Albuhera and Vittoria.

For the 2nd Dragoons, which did not serve in the Peninsula, the defining Napoleonic battle came at Waterloo in 1815.

Waterloo and Charles Ewart

On 18 June 1815 the 2nd (Royal North British) Dragoons formed part of the Union Brigade of British heavy cavalry at Waterloo.

As French infantry advanced against the Allied line, the brigade charged. During the fighting Sergeant Charles Ewart captured the Eagle and standard of the French 45th Regiment of the Line.

Ewart took the trophy in close combat, fighting the French standard-bearer and other soldiers before being ordered to carry the Eagle to the rear.

The success came at a severe cost. The regiment’s dedicated Waterloo history records that of the 391 men of the 2nd Dragoons who took the field, 105 were killed in action or died of wounds. Lieutenant-Colonel James Hamilton, the commanding officer, was among the dead.

Historical note: a separate Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum article gives a slightly different figure of 102 killed and 98 wounded. The dedicated Waterloo history is used here because it gives the fuller formulation — killed in action or died of wounds — but the difference between the two regimental sources is worth recording.

Ewart was later commissioned as an ensign. After his grave was rediscovered in Salford, his remains were reinterred on the Esplanade of Edinburgh Castle in 1938.

For many years the Eagle and standard were held at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. On Waterloo Day in 1956 they were formally returned to the Royal Scots Greys and later transferred to Edinburgh Castle, where they remain among the regiment’s most important surviving trophies.

Balaklava and the Charge of the Heavy Brigade

On 25 October 1854 the 2nd Dragoons fought at Balaklava during the Crimean War.

The regiment formed part of the Heavy Brigade, which charged uphill against Russian cavalry. The action was a tactical success, though it has always been overshadowed in popular memory by the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade later that day.

Two members of the 2nd Dragoons — John Grieve and Henry Ramage — were later awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry at Balaklava.

India, Abyssinia, Afghanistan and the Sudan

During the second half of the nineteenth century, service carried the RSDG antecedent regiments far beyond Europe.

During the Indian uprising of 1857 the 6th Dragoon Guards served from the outbreak at Meerut and fought in the recapture of Delhi. The 3rd Dragoon Guards was sent to India as part of the Central India Field Force.

In 1868 the 3rd Dragoon Guards was the British cavalry regiment sent on the Abyssinian Expedition, marching hundreds of miles to the fortress of Magdala.

The 6th Dragoon Guards served in the Second Afghan War from 1879, including garrison and mobile-column work around Jalalabad and the Khyber Pass.

In 1884–85 volunteers from the Royal Scots Greys joined the Heavy Camel Regiment in the Gordon Relief Expedition and fought at Abu Klea.

The Boer War

In South Africa, the Royal Scots Greys and 6th Dragoon Guards served together in the 1st Cavalry Brigade.

Both took part in the relief of Kimberley and the fighting at Paardeberg in February 1900. The 3rd Dragoon Guards arrived later and took part in anti-guerrilla operations during the closing stages of the war.

The First World War

The 6th Dragoon Guards and Royal Scots Greys deployed with the British Expeditionary Force in 1914. The 3rd Dragoon Guards arrived on the Western Front later that year.

All three regiments spent periods fighting dismounted as the war developed, but mounted action had not disappeared entirely.

On 24 March 1918, during the German Spring Offensive, Lieutenant Arthur Vincent led a troop of the 3rd Dragoon Guards in a mounted charge at Villeselve.

On 9 October 1918 the 3rd Dragoon Guards charged German positions at Honnechy, riding for two miles under machine-gun fire to take the village. It was one of the British Army’s last significant cavalry charges before mechanisation transformed the arm.

Ireland, 1919–1921

Armistice did not immediately bring peacetime soldiering for the two regiments that would form the 3rd Carabiniers.

In 1919 the 3rd Dragoon Guards began a two-year deployment to Ireland during the Irish War of Independence. The 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers) was also stationed at the Curragh during the same conflict.

Both regiments left Ireland before moving on to India, where they were amalgamated in 1922. Their Irish service belongs directly in the history of the 3rd Carabiniers line and helps bridge the gap between the Western Front and the inter-war amalgamation.

Formation of the 3rd Carabiniers

In 1922, while both were serving in India, the 3rd and 6th Dragoon Guards amalgamated to form the 3rd/6th Dragoon Guards.

After returning to Britain the regiment was retitled the 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales’s Dragoon Guards) at Tidworth in 1928.

Its new title deliberately preserved both the Carabinier identity and the Prince of Wales association.

Inter-war Service: India and Palestine

Inter-war service took the Royal Scots Greys first to India during the 1920s and later to Palestine during the 1930s.

In Palestine the Greys were employed during the Arab Revolt of 1936–39. The regiment was still there when the Second World War began in September 1939.

The Greys therefore entered the Second World War from Palestine and remained mounted during the opening years of the conflict.

Mechanisation

The 3rd Carabiniers began giving up its horses for Vickers tanks in January 1938. Mechanisation was completed in March 1939.

The Royal Scots Greys resisted mechanisation for longer and remained mounted at the outbreak of the Second World War. They were finally ordered to mechanise in May 1941, becoming the last British cavalry unit to mechanise.

Mechanisation changed the regiment’s equipment and tactics, but the inherited cavalry titles, standards, dress distinctions, music and customs remained.

The Second World War

The Royal Scots Greys: Syria, North Africa, Italy and North-West Europe

The Royal Scots Greys were in Palestine when war began.

After mechanising, they fought Vichy French forces in Syria in 1941, then served in the Western Desert. Their tanks fought at Alam el Halfa and the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1942.

In 1943 the Greys landed at Salerno in Italy. They remained in the Italian campaign until January 1944, when they returned to Britain to prepare for Normandy.

The regiment landed at Juno Beach on 7 June 1944, the day after D-Day. It fought around Caen and Falaise before taking part in Operation Market Garden during the advance through the Netherlands. The Greys subsequently fought through the Reichswald, crossed the Rhine and ended the war near Wismar on the Baltic, where British troops met advancing Soviet forces.

The 3rd Carabiniers: Imphal, Nunshigum and Burma

Stationed in India when war began, the 3rd Carabiniers first entered major combat against the Japanese during the fighting around Imphal.

On 13 April 1944, B Squadron supported the 1st Dogras in an assault on Nunshigum Ridge. The steep ground forced tank commanders to expose themselves while guiding their vehicles uphill. The officers of the Carabinier squadron were killed in the action.

Squadron Sergeant-Major William Craddock and Subedar Ranbir Singh of the Dogras took control and continued the attack, helping to drive the Japanese from the ridge.

From Imphal the regiment fought south through Burma, helped in the capture of Mandalay and entered Rangoon in 1945.

Nunshigum remains one of the three principal regimental days of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.

The 25th Dragoons in the Arakan

Raised at Sialkot in 1941, the 25th Dragoons drew heavily on a cadre from the 3rd Carabiniers, reinforced by men from other units.

In 1944 the regiment served with 7th Indian Division in the Arakan and fought in the campaign around the Admin Box and Ngakyedauk Pass. It remained in India after the war and was disbanded in 1947.

Geoffrey Keyes and the 1941 Commando Raid

Geoffrey Charles Tasker Keyes was commissioned into the Royal Scots Greys in 1937 and later transferred to commando service.

On the night of 17–18 November 1941 he led the most dangerous detachment in a raid behind Axis lines in Libya. British planners believed the target to be the residence and headquarters of the German commander in North Africa.

The official Victoria Cross citation describes it in those terms. Later evidence established that Erwin Rommel was in Italy at the time and that the house attacked was not his personal headquarters. The familiar description of the operation as a raid on “Rommel’s headquarters” therefore requires qualification.

Keyes was mortally wounded during the assault. His Victoria Cross was awarded posthumously in June 1942.

The Cold War, Kuwait and Cyprus

After 1945 both immediate predecessors served within Britain’s Cold War armoured forces, particularly in the British Army of the Rhine.

The Royal Scots Greys moved to Lüneburg in 1946, later serving at Detmold and Fallingbostel. The 3rd Carabiniers was based near Osnabrück in 1951 and later took over Lothian Barracks at Detmold from the Greys in 1962. This long German service formed the armoured Cold War background inherited by the new regiment in 1971.

The Royal Scots Greys alternated between West Germany and home stations from 1945 into the early 1960s, apart from a brief deployment to Libya in 1952. In 1962–63 the regiment served in Aden during the developing emergency before returning to Germany.

In 1961 a squadron of the 3rd Carabiniers was sent to Aden. Later that year C Squadron deployed Centurion tanks to Kuwait after Iraqi threats against the newly independent state, with the remainder of the regiment following as the crisis developed.

The 3rd Carabiniers changed from tanks to reconnaissance scout cars in 1967 and sent detachments to Cyprus in 1968.

In 1969–70 B and then C Squadron of the Royal Scots Greys served with the United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus using Ferret scout cars.

Formation of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards in 1971

On 2 July 1971 the 3rd Carabiniers and Royal Scots Greys formally amalgamated at Holyrood Park, Edinburgh.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, then Colonel-in-Chief, presented the new regiment with its first Standard. A drum horse named Trojan was also presented in connection with the formation of the new regiment.

The first Colonel of the Regiment was Major-General Ralph Younger, a veteran of the 3rd Carabiniers and the officer who had commanded at Nunshigum.

The title The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys) deliberately preserved both immediate predecessor identities.

The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Cap Badge

The cap badge adopted by the new regiment combines the principal devices of its two immediate predecessors.

The regimental description is precise: a French Imperial Eagle in silver upon a plaque inscribed WATERLOO, surmounting crossed carbines in gilt, with a scroll beneath inscribed ROYAL SCOTS DRAGOON GUARDS.

A 1971 National Army Museum example shows the same arrangement.

The French Imperial Eagle

Inherited from the Royal Scots Greys, the Eagle commemorates the trophy captured by Sergeant Charles Ewart from the French 45th Regiment of the Line at Waterloo.

It is not simply a generic Napoleonic eagle. Within the RSDG badge it refers to a specific captured standard and a specific regimental action.

The WATERLOO Tablet

The WATERLOO tablet fixes the meaning of the Eagle to the battle of 18 June 1815.

Waterloo remains one of the regiment’s three principal commemorative days.

The Crossed Carbines

From the Carabinier side came the crossed carbines.

Carbines were shorter firearms suited to mounted troops. The regimental history records crossed carbines on the buttons and shabraques of the Carabiniers from the 1770s, later becoming the principal device of their cap badge.

The Regimental Scroll

Beneath the Eagle and carbines, the lower scroll identifies the post-1971 regiment and helps distinguish the combined badge from earlier Royal Scots Greys and Carabinier insignia.

The Badge Reproduced by Precision Military Emblems

The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards display badge produced by Precision Military Emblems is an enlarged, officially MOD-licensed wall display made from approved artwork.

The design reproduces the French Imperial Eagle, WATERLOO tablet, crossed carbines and ROYAL SCOTS DRAGOON GUARDS scroll.

The finished display measures approximately 220 mm wide × 250 mm high × 26 mm thick and incorporates an integrated rear wall mount.

It is a modern commemorative display reproduction. It is not sold as an original service cap badge and does not reproduce the materials or manufacturing methods of historic metal insignia.

Regimental Dress, Symbols and Traditions

The Yellow Vandyke

The forage and No. 1 Dress caps of the regiment are dark blue with a yellow welt and a distinctive zig-zag Vandyke band.

The pattern is believed to descend from the Scots Greys’ late-eighteenth-century Kilmarnock bonnets. Those earlier bonnets carried a Vandyke pattern in different colours according to rank. When the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards was formed, the whole regiment adopted a yellow Vandyke, while the 3rd Dragoon Guards and 3rd Carabiniers had themselves used plain yellow cap bands.

The Vandyke is therefore a genuine regimental distinction. It is the historical basis for the yellow zig-zag on royal blue used in the Precision Military Emblems display-frame backing.

The Prince of Wales’s Feathers

The Prince of Wales’s feathers with ICH DIEN were inherited through the 3rd Dragoon Guards. The right to wear the device dates from 1765.

The Order of the Thistle

The badge of the Order of the Thistle was an old Scots Greys device. In the modern regiment its display is confined principally to the Standard, drums and drum banners, while the Order of the Thistle also forms part of the regimental cypher.

The White Horse of Hanover

The White Horse of Hanover is another Scots Greys inheritance. It appears on the backs of soldiers’ bearskins and on the plaid brooches of the pipers.

Bearskin Caps

The regiment has inherited from the Scots Greys the distinctive cavalry privilege of wearing bearskin caps in full dress.

Regimental tradition associates this distinction with Ramillies, although the physical development of the bearskin headdress belongs to the later eighteenth century.

Grey Horses

The regiment retains the Scots Greys tradition of grey horses for ceremonial mounted duties. Horses are no longer part of its operational equipment, but the Mounted Troop preserves a visible connection with the cavalry regiment that charged at Waterloo.

Mottoes

Three motto traditions remain particularly important:

  • NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT — “No one provokes me with impunity”, the motto of the Order of the Thistle and borne at the centre of the Standard.
  • ICH DIEN — “I serve”, inherited through the Prince of Wales distinction of the 3rd Dragoon Guards.
  • SECOND TO NONE — the famous Royal Scots Greys motto, referring to the regiment’s traditional place in the precedence of the Cavalry of the Line.

Mess Customs and Regimental Music

At formal dinners the Loyal Toast is traditionally drunk seated, except when a member of the Royal Family is present.

When a military band is in attendance, regimental custom adds two pieces to the normal loyal music. God Bless the Prince of Wales is played as an inheritance from the 3rd Dragoon Guards, while the Imperial Russian Anthem is played in memory of Tsar Nicholas II, who had been Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Scots Greys.

Other Dress and Accoutrement Distinctions

The regiment preserves a number of smaller distinctions that are easily missed in shorter histories. A grenade bearing the Royal Arms, St Andrew and WATERLOO forms the plume socket on the bearskin; related grenade devices are worn by officers and trumpeters. Regimental buttons normally carry the Eagle-and-Carbines device, while officers’ cap buttons carry thistles.

Black backings behind badges and black welts on officers’ khaki caps descend from the Royal Scots Greys. They were retained after 1971 to set the silver badge against the yellow facings inherited from the 3rd Dragoon Guards.

Officers may wear Black Stewart tartan trews with undress clothing on informal mess occasions. The regimental tie and stable belt use narrow stripes of grey, yellow and red on dark blue, colours that also appear on the ribbon of the Duke of Kent’s Medal.

Traditional saddlery also preserves Scots Greys and Scottish details, including thistle devices and distinctive red-and-black horsehair ornaments on officers’ chargers.

Three Principal Regimental Days

Three principal battle honours are marked each year as regimental days.

13 April — Nunshigum Day

Nunshigum Day remembers B Squadron, 3rd Carabiniers, and its action in Burma in 1944. B Squadron parades separately and, in remembrance of the officers lost in the action, its officers do not march with it.

18 June — Waterloo Day

Waterloo Day commemorates the Royal Scots Greys’ charge and Charles Ewart’s capture of the French 45th Regiment’s Eagle.

25 October — Balaklava

Balaklava commemorates the Charge of the Heavy Brigade and the Victoria Cross actions of John Grieve and Henry Ramage.

Three Victoria Crosses in the RSDG Antecedent History

Regimental history identifies three Victoria Cross recipients in the RSDG antecedent story: John Grieve, Henry Ramage and Geoffrey Keyes.

No additional Victoria Cross recipients from other cavalry regiments are included here: the regimental antecedent roll consists of these three men.

Sergeant-Major John Grieve VC — 2nd Dragoons

At Balaklava on 25 October 1854, Sergeant-Major John Grieve saw an officer surrounded by Russian cavalry during the Charge of the Heavy Brigade.

According to his official citation, Grieve rode to the officer’s rescue, killed one Russian cavalryman and disabled or dispersed the others, saving the officer’s life.

His award was published in the London Gazette on 24 February 1857. Queen Victoria presented him with the Cross at the first VC investiture in Hyde Park on 26 June 1857. The regimental history notes that, because the 2nd Dragoons were the senior regiment represented, Grieve was probably the first British Army soldier to receive the decoration at that ceremony.

Henry Ramage VC — 2nd Dragoons

Henry Ramage, a private at the time of the action and later a sergeant, was decorated for three acts of gallantry at Balaklava.

He rode to the aid of Private McPherson when McPherson was surrounded by seven Russian soldiers and drove them off. Later he dismounted and brought in a Russian prisoner. He also rescued the badly wounded Private Gardiner under heavy fire.

Ramage’s award was published in the London Gazette on 4 June 1858. He received his medal from Queen Victoria at Southsea Common on 2 August 1858.

Historical note: the official Gazette entry prints the date of Ramage’s acts as 26 October 1854. The Battle of Balaklava took place on 25 October, and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards’ own history and specialist VC records place the actions on the 25th. The discrepancy is retained here rather than silently altering the official citation.

Lieutenant-Colonel Geoffrey Keyes VC — Royal Scots Greys / 11th (Scottish) Commando

Geoffrey Charles Tasker Keyes was a Royal Scots Greys officer who later served with the commandos.

On the night of 17–18 November 1941 he led the detachment assigned the most dangerous objective in a raid behind Axis lines in Libya. Keyes led the assault into the target building and was mortally wounded.

His posthumous Victoria Cross was published in the London Gazette on 19 June 1942. The citation identifies him as Major (temporary Lieutenant-Colonel) Geoffrey Charles Tasker Keyes, MC, The Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons), Royal Armoured Corps.

The official citation describes the objective as the residence and headquarters of the German commander in North Africa. Later research established that Rommel was in Italy and that the building attacked was not his personal headquarters. The raid was a commando operation rather than an action fought by the Royal Scots Greys as a regiment; Keyes is included in the RSDG antecedent VC roll because he was a Royal Scots Greys officer.

Battle Honours

All battle honours inherited from the regiment’s antecedents form part of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards’ history.

The British Army currently records 88 battle honours in the regimental family, of which 50 are borne on the regimental Standard. The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum preserves the regiment’s first Standard, presented in 1971 and retired in 1994.

The inherited honours range from the War of the Spanish Succession through the Napoleonic and Victorian campaigns, two world wars and modern operations.

Among the most important are Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet, Dettingen, Warburg, Willems, Talavera, Albuhera, Vittoria, Waterloo, Balaklava, Sevastopol, Delhi 1857, Abyssinia, Afghanistan 1879–80, Relief of Kimberley and Paardeberg.

First World War honours include Mons, Ypres, Arras, Cambrai, Amiens and the Hindenburg Line.

Second World War honours record two very different theatres: the Greys in Syria, North Africa, Italy and North-West Europe, and the 3rd Carabiniers in Imphal and Burma, including Nunshigum and Mandalay.

The modern regiment added Gulf 1991 and Iraq 2003.

War Memorials and Regimental Remembrance

Remembrance is preserved not only in regimental ceremonies but in a network of memorials to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and its antecedents.

The best-known Scots Greys memorial stands above Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh. Designed by William Birnie Rhind and unveiled in 1906, it originally commemorated those who died in the Boer War; later inscriptions remember losses in the world wars, Korea and members of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards killed on active service in Northern Ireland and Iraq.

The 6th Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers) Boer War memorial stands on Chelsea Embankment in London, while a First World War memorial to the Carabiniers is in Canterbury Cathedral.

A carved memorial to the 3rd Carabiniers and their predecessors is preserved in St Michael’s Garrison Church at Tidworth. It was originally erected at Sialkot in India and removed at the time of Indian independence.

In 2019 a memorial to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and their regimental forebears was unveiled at the National Memorial Arboretum, bringing the remembrance of the whole regimental family into one national site.

BAOR, Northern Ireland and Cyprus after Amalgamation

For much of the 1970s and 1980s, the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards served in West Germany with the British Army of the Rhine. That long Cold War commitment was a major part of the regiment’s first two decades and continued the German armoured service of both immediate predecessors.

Operational demands repeatedly interrupted the BAOR routine. The National Army Museum records four post-amalgamation tours in Northern Ireland: 1972, 1974, 1976 and 1980.

Duties included armoured reconnaissance, infantry patrolling and guard tasks. During the 1974 deployment the regiment was also employed during the Ulster Workers’ Council Strike.

Squadrons additionally undertook United Nations peacekeeping tours in Cyprus, continuing another strand of service inherited from the Royal Scots Greys and 3rd Carabiniers.

The Gulf War

In 1991 the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards deployed on Operation GRANBY.

On 25 February the regiment’s Challenger tanks crossed from Saudi Arabia into Iraq. The British armoured advance sought to cut the road between Kuwait City and Basra and block the Iraqi retreat.

SCOTS DG reached the Basra Road on 28 February, the final day of the ground campaign.

Bosnia, Challenger 2 and Kosovo

After the Gulf War the regiment continued to serve on major overseas commitments rather than moving directly from 1991 to Iraq.

The National Army Museum records a deployment to Bosnia in 1996–97 as part of the NATO-led Stabilisation Force. In 1998 the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards became the first British Army unit to operate the Challenger 2 main battle tank.

The regiment subsequently served in Kosovo in 2000–01 in a peace-support role.

Iraq

Operation TELIC took the regiment back to Iraq.

In March 2003 C Squadron fought around Abu al-Khasib on the approaches to Basra, operating with Royal Marines. The regimental battlegroup later took part in the assault on Basra itself.

Further operational tours followed in 2005 and 2008.

Afghanistan

Royal Scots Dragoon Guards personnel served in Afghanistan during the period 2008–2014.

B Squadron deployed in 2008–09, with troops attached to formations in Helmand. A larger contingent returned in 2011. Later service included Kabul during the closing years of the campaign.

Tasks in Afghanistan included mounted and dismounted operations, convoy escort and training support to Afghan forces.

Regimental web pages use slightly different shorthand for individual HERRICK tour years, so the broader 2008–2014 span is the safest way to describe the regiment’s Afghanistan service without forcing inconsistent source labels into a single chronology.

Poland, Cyprus and Mali

Recent operations reflect the regiment’s modern reconnaissance role.

SCOTS DG has deployed on Operation CABRIT as part of NATO’s enhanced forward presence in Poland and on Operation TOSCA with the United Nations peacekeeping force in Cyprus.

The regiment has also deployed on Operation NEWCOMBE in Mali, including long-range reconnaissance work in support of the United Nations mission.

The Pipes and Drums and “Amazing Grace”

Military music occupies an unusually prominent place in the regiment’s public history.

The Royal Scots Greys had an unofficial pipe band in India during the 1920s. In 1946 the Pipes and Drums of the Lothians and Border Horse were transferred to the Greys, and the Royal Scots Greys Pipes and Drums were formally established in 1949.

After the 1971 amalgamation the new Regimental Band and Pipes and Drums recorded Farewell to the Greys. Its version of Amazing Grace, with a pipe score by Tony Crease, was released as a single and reached number one in the British charts in April 1972.

The recording remained at number one for five weeks and sold millions of copies worldwide, giving the newly formed regiment a public profile far beyond the Army.

The musical tradition continued after the Cold War, although Army reductions brought the Regimental Band to an end. It gave its final concert at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, on 27 May 1994.

The Pipes and Drums continued. In 2002 they released Parallel Tracks, including a version of Going Home with Mark Knopfler. Spirit of the Glen followed in 2007 and reached number one in the classical charts. Its follow-up, Spirit of the Glen: Journey, won Album of the Year at the 2009 Classical BRIT Awards; part of the recording was completed in Basra while members of the regiment were serving in Iraq.

From Challenger 2 to Light Cavalry

A major change came in 2013, when the regiment’s role changed from heavy armour to Light Cavalry.

In November 2013 the regiment’s last Challenger 2 tank was ceremonially piped out of Wessex Barracks at Fallingbostel. The regiment re-equipped with the Jackal family of reconnaissance vehicles, returning in technological form to a role centred on speed, scouting and operating ahead of the main force.

SCOTS DG Today

Today the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards serves as Light Cavalry in the Royal Armoured Corps.

Its Army specialism is Formation Reconnaissance: finding and understanding enemy forces and terrain, operating ahead of friendly formations, and passing information quickly enough to influence commanders’ decisions.

The British Army’s current SCOTS DG role page describes crews operating Jackal 3 and Coyote vehicles, although its equipment listing and the regiment’s own equipment page still retain Jackal 2. This reflects the Army’s continuing transition between generations of the Jackal family.

The serving regiment is based at Waterloo Lines, Leuchars, while Home Headquarters and the regimental museum remain at Edinburgh Castle.

His Majesty The King is Colonel-in-Chief. The Duke of Kent, who served as an officer in the Royal Scots Greys, is Deputy Colonel-in-Chief.

Collecting Original Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Cap Badges

Collectors need to distinguish the post-1971 Royal Scots Dragoon Guards badge from the earlier insignia whose devices it inherited.

Eagle, WATERLOO tablet, crossed carbines and Royal Scots Dragoon Guards scroll together identify the badge of the amalgamated regiment.

Royal Scots Greys Eagle Badges

The Waterloo Eagle was used by the Royal Scots Greys before 1971. An Eagle alone therefore does not make a badge an RSDG example.

Period, dimensions, construction, reverse fittings and provenance all need to be considered.

3rd Carabiniers and Earlier Carabinier Badges

Crossed carbines also predate the 1971 regiment by many generations.

An original 3rd Carabiniers badge belongs to the predecessor regiment even though its crossed carbines supplied a central part of the modern RSDG design.

Cap Badges, Collar Badges and Other Devices

The regiment uses related Eagle-and-Carbines devices in several forms. Collar badges are similar to the cap badge, while larger versions without the scroll are worn on pouches and by senior NCOs on the arm.

Collectors should therefore identify an item by size, construction and intended use rather than by the front design alone.

Maker’s Marks and Reverse Fittings

Maker’s marks, sliders and lugs can help with identification, but no single reverse feature should be used as proof of date or authenticity.

Comparison with documented museum examples and sound provenance provides a firmer basis.

Original Badges and the Precision Military Emblems Display Piece

The collecting guidance above concerns original service insignia.

The Precision Military Emblems Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Cap Badge is an officially licensed modern display piece produced from MOD-approved artwork and enlarged for wall display.

It is not sold as an original military cap badge and should not be confused with period metal insignia.

Displaying and Preserving Original Badges

Original military badges are best kept in stable, dry conditions away from prolonged direct sunlight and damp.

Mounting methods should not scratch the surface, distort original lugs or sliders, or permanently bond an historic badge to a backing. Where provenance matters, reversible mounting is preferable.

A modern licensed display reproduction serves a different purpose, allowing the regimental design to be displayed at large scale without placing an original item of service insignia at risk.

Frequently Asked Questions

When were The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards formed?

The regiment was formed on 2 July 1971 at Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, by amalgamating the 3rd Carabiniers (Prince of Wales’s Dragoon Guards) and the Royal Scots Greys (2nd Dragoons).

How far back does the regimental history go?

The Scots Greys line begins with companies of Scots Dragoons raised in 1678 and formed into a regiment in 1681. The 3rd Dragoon Guards and Carabiniers lines begin with regiments of horse raised in 1685.

Why is there a French Eagle on the cap badge?

It commemorates the French Imperial Eagle and standard of the 45th Regiment of the Line captured by Sergeant Charles Ewart at Waterloo on 18 June 1815.

What do the crossed carbines mean?

They represent the Carabinier side of the regiment. Crossed carbines had been used as Carabinier insignia since the eighteenth century and later formed the main device of their cap badge.

Why does the badge say WATERLOO?

The WATERLOO tablet identifies the battle at which Ewart captured the French Eagle.

What is the yellow zig-zag on Royal Scots Dragoon Guards caps?

It is the distinctive yellow Vandyke. The Vandyke tradition came through the Scots Greys, while the yellow colour also reflected the cap-band traditions of the 3rd Dragoon Guards and 3rd Carabiniers.

How many Victoria Crosses belong to the RSDG antecedent history?

Three: John Grieve, Henry Ramage and Geoffrey Keyes.

Was Geoffrey Keyes’s VC a Royal Scots Greys regimental action?

No. Keyes was a Royal Scots Greys officer, but the action for which he received the VC took place while he was serving with the commandos. He is nevertheless correctly included in the RSDG antecedent VC roll.

What are the regiment’s principal commemorative days?

Nunshigum Day on 13 April, Waterloo Day on 18 June and Balaklava on 25 October.

Where did the regiment serve during the Cold War?

Both immediate predecessors spent substantial periods with the British Army of the Rhine. After the 1971 amalgamation the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards itself served for much of the 1970s and 1980s in West Germany, alongside operational tours in Northern Ireland and United Nations deployments to Cyprus.

What is SCOTS DG’s role today?

The British Army employs the regiment as Light Cavalry specialising in Formation Reconnaissance.

Where is the regiment based?

The serving regiment is based at Waterloo Lines, Leuchars, Fife. Home Headquarters and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum are at Edinburgh Castle.

Is the Precision Military Emblems RSDG badge an issued military cap badge?

No. It is an enlarged, officially MOD-licensed 3D-printed display reproduction produced from approved artwork for commemorative and wall-display use. It is not official issue military insignia.

Amalgamation and Continuing Tradition

The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards did not simply take the badge of one predecessor and place a new title beneath it.

The 1971 regiment inherited the histories of the Royal Scots Greys and 3rd Carabiniers and, through them, the earlier Scots Dragoons, 3rd Dragoon Guards and 6th Dragoon Guards.

The cap badge states that inheritance plainly. The Waterloo Eagle belongs to the Greys. The crossed carbines belong to the Carabinier tradition. The scroll names the regiment formed in 1971.

The same inheritance can be seen beyond the cap badge in the yellow Vandyke, yellow facings, Prince of Wales’s feathers, Order of the Thistle, bearskins, grey horses, regimental mottoes, music and battle days.

The cap badge therefore serves as a concise visual record of the 1971 amalgamation: the Waterloo Eagle of the Greys placed over the crossed carbines of the Carabinier tradition and named for the regiment that carries both histories today.

Further Reading

Officially Licensed Emblems & Heritage Displays

Precision Military Emblems produces officially licensed Royal Scots Dragoon Guards display pieces using MOD-approved artwork.

The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
View the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Cap Badge and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Cap Badge Display Frame.

The display frame uses a professionally pigment-printed backing featuring the regiment’s distinctive yellow Vandyke on royal blue.

The historical material above describes the regimental badge and its historical context separately from these modern licensed display products.

Intellectual Property of the Secretary of State for Defence is used under licence. Every item is produced for commemorative and display purposes and is not official issue military insignia.

Readers interested in the wider history of British cavalry and armour may also find these Military Heritage articles useful:

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