King's Royal Hussars

The King's Royal Hussars (KRH) is a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It is part of the Royal Armoured Corps and was formed on 4 December 1992 by the amalgamation of two other regiments:


 * The Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own) an amalgamation of the 10th Royal Hussars (Prince of Wales's Own), and 11th Hussars (Prince Albert's Own)
 * 14th/20th King's Hussars an amalgamation of the 14th King's Hussars and the 20th Hussars.

The regiment currently serves in the armoured role, equipped with Challenger 2 tanks, is based in Tidworth, Wiltshire and will continue to stay there under Army 2020.

Deployments
Since the amalgamation, the unit has been deployed to Northern Ireland, the Yugoslav Wars (Bosnia and Kosovo), Iraq and Afghanistan. Most recently, they returned from Operation Herrick in October 2012 and the last squadron will leave Afghanistan by November.

Organisation
The regiment is organised into a total of five squadrons, each of which perpetuates the title of one of its antecedent regiments:
 * C Squadron (The Eleventh Hussar Squadron)
 * A Squadron (The Twentieth Hussar Squadron)
 * B Squadron (The Fourteenth Hussar Squadron)
 * D Squadron (The Tenth Hussar Squadron)
 * HQ Squadron

C Squadron traditionally is the senior squadron of the King's Royal Hussars in perpetuation of the honour accorded to C Squadron the 11th Hussars in Egypt.

Crimson trousers
The regiment wears crimson trousers when in ceremonial, No1 or No2 dress, and (for officers and NCOs) mess dress. They may also appear in shirt sleeve order as worn by officers, including those on secondment to the regiment from other units. This distinctive feature, which is unique in the British Army, derives from the honour accorded to the 11th Hussars by Prince Albert, the future consort of Queen Victoria. The regiment, then based at Canterbury, formed the escort for the Prince from his arrival at Dover en route to his wedding in London. The Prince was so impressed with the bearing and turnout of the troops that he ordered that they should henceforth wear his livery as a mark of distinction.

Brown beret
The regiment wears a unique brown beret. This practice began when the 11th Hussars were mechanized in 1928. It was found that the traditional forage cap with a peak was inconvenient when peering through an armoured sight, so it was decided to adopt a beret. It is believed that the brown colour was selected by the then quartermaster's wife as a practical choice for working with dirty, oily vehicles, rather than nice, clean horses. The beret was originally worn without a cap badge but with a broad crimson band. This band is represented today by the crimson patch backing the cap badge. Since 2003 the Royal Wessex Yeomanry has also worn the brown beret.

The Gurkha link
The KRH wear the crossed kukri of the Gurkhas as an arm badge. This relates back to 1945 when C Squadron, 14th/20th King's Hussars assaulted the town of Medicina in Italy alongside the 2nd Battalion, 6th Gurkha Rifles, inflicting heavy losses on the German defenders despite being outnumbered. In commemoration of this action the 14/20 adopted the crossed kukri badge, a tradition maintained by the KRH.

Alliances

 * 🇨🇦 - 1st Hussars
 * 🇦🇺 - 10th Light Horse
 * 🇦🇺 - 2nd/14th Light Horse Regiment (Queensland Mounted Infantry)
 * 🇦🇺 - 4th/19th Prince of Wales's Light Horse
 * 🇳🇿 - Queen Alexandra's Mounted Rifles
 * 🇵🇰 - The Guides Cavalry (Frontier Force)
 * - Zambia Armoured Car Regiment
 * - HMS Dauntless

Affiliated Yeomanry

 * The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry (Prince of Wales's Own)
 * The Royal Gloucestershire Hussars
 * The Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry

Notable officers

 * Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster