The Queen's Division is a British Army training and administrative apparatus for infantry regiments from the East & South of England, and Gibraltar.

Formation

The Queen's Division was formed in 1968 with the regimentation of the Home Counties Brigade, Fusilier Brigade and East Anglian Brigade, followed by the union of the new regiments. The depot was established at Bassingbourn Barracks in Cambridgeshire.

Cold War

During the Cold War, the Queen's Division saw a massive expansion. Below the list of units belonging to the division with disbandment dates or transfer dates where needed: Following the reorganisation of the TA in 1999, the Queen's Division was reduced to just six regular battalions (two in each regiment) and just three TA battalions (one in each).

Modern day

Because the Queen's Division already contained large regiments from the previous round of amalgamations in the 1960s, it was the only one of the five line infantry divisions to be unaffected by the restructuring announced in 2004. However, in 2022 the infantry was reorganised, which saw two regiments from the north of England attached. The Queen's Division therefore now comprises the following infantry battalions: The current Colonel Commandant is Lieutenant General Douglas Chalmers.

Bands

Before the formation of the Corps of Army Music in 1994, each battalion of the Queen's Division, except for the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers maintained a band. These included the following: Regular Army Territorial Army Following the reductions, all above bands were reduced to the Normandy Band of the Queen's Division (Bands of the RRF) and the Minden Band of the Queen's Division (Bands of the PWRR and R ANGLIANs ). Following reductions to the Corps of Army Music, the Band of the Queen's Division was formed through amalgamation of the two former bands in 2007, but later disbanded in 2018. CAMUS was reorganised in 2019 with the band reforming, itself now part of British Army Band Catterick. In addition, since 1992 the Royal Gibraltar Regiment maintains a Band and Corps of Drums.

Gallery

Sources