Queen to meet regiment for first time as Colonel-in-Chief

The Queen will meet a regiment for the first time since she was appointed its Colonel-in-Chief.

Camilla became Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Lancers (Queen Elizabeths’ Own) last June.

It was a role last held by the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Camilla will meet serving Royal Lancers and veterans at their barracks in Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire.

Lord Lieutenant Jo Roper and Colonel of the Regiment, Colonel Richard Charrington, will greet her.

The regiment will perform a royal salute and the Queen will inspect and address lancers in the 152-person parade.

Armoured vehicles will also be on display including the Humber and Dingo from the Second World War that the Queen’s late father would have commanded, Buckingham Palace said.

Warrior and Bulldog vehicles in use today will also be there.

The Queen will award five medals and move on to the officers’ mess.

There she will meet now-retired Major Phil Watson, who wrote Their Greatest Hour, a book that records the 12th Lancers’ involvement in the 1940 Battle of Dunkirk.

Camilla’s father, Major Bruce Shand, served in the 12th Lancers and won a Military Cross for gallantry during the battle, and she wrote the foreword to Their Greatest Hour.

The Royal Lancers is an armoured reconnaissance regiment formed in 2015 when the 9th/12th Royal Lancers and The Queen’s Royal Lancers were amalgamated.

The words “(Queen Elizabeths’ Own)” were later added to reflect the regiment’s association with the late Queen and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.

Over the past 12 months The Royal Lancers have been deployed in Poland as part of Nato’s Enhanced Forward Presence and Nato’s Kosovo Force, Buckingham Palace said.