History
The current regiment was formed in 1959 by the amalgamation of 1st King's Dragoon Guards (raised in 1685 as Lanier's or 2nd Queen's Regiment of Horse by James II of England in reaction to the Monmouth Rebellion) and the Queen's Bays or 2nd Dragoon Guards (the former Peterborough's or 3rd Regiment of Horse, also raised in 1685 by James II in reaction to the Monmouth Rebellion). In 1896 Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria was appointed Colonel-in-Chief of the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards and allowed the regiment to wear the Austrian imperial coat of arms, which is still used as the regiment's cap badge today. Also the regiment adopted an Austrian military march, Radetzky March, as quick march. The regimental museum is located in Cardiff Castle.
Perhaps the best known member in recent years was Captain Mark Phillips, one-time husband of The Princess Anne.
The regiment celebrated their fiftieth anniversary on 31 July 2009 with a ceremony at Cardiff castle and a parade through the streets of Cardiff city both attended by their Colonel-in-Chief The Prince of Wales. The regiment received a great response from the people of Cardiff. That same year the unit was also awarded with the Freedom of the City of Swansea.
Read more about this topic: 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“No matter how vital experience might be while you lived it, no sooner was it ended and dead than it became as lifeless as the piles of dry dust in a school history book.”
—Ellen Glasgow (1874–1945)
“No one can understand Paris and its history who does not understand that its fierceness is the balance and justification of its frivolity. It is called a city of pleasure; but it may also very specially be called a city of pain. The crown of roses is also a crown of thorns. Its people are too prone to hurt others, but quite ready also to hurt themselves. They are martyrs for religion, they are martyrs for irreligion; they are even martyrs for immorality.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“The history of any nation follows an undulatory course. In the trough of the wave we find more or less complete anarchy; but the crest is not more or less complete Utopia, but only, at best, a tolerably humane, partially free and fairly just society that invariably carries within itself the seeds of its own decadence.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)