Queen's Division

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

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:

Regular Army Units
*1st Battalion, The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshire)
*1st Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
*1st Battalion, The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border)
*1st Battalion, The Mercian Regiment (Cheshire, Worcesters and Foresters, and Staffords)
*1st and 2nd Battalions, The Royal Anglian Regiment
*3rd Battalion The Rangers
*Royal Gibraltar Regiment
Army Reserve Units
*3rd Battalion, The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment
*4th Battalion, The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment
*5th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
*4th Battalion, The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment
*4th Battalion, The Mercian Regiment
*3rd Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment

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

Band of the 1st Battalion, Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment
Band of the 2nd Battalion, Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment
Duke of Kent's Band of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
Saint George's Band of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
Band of the 1st Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment
Band of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment
Band of the 3rd Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment

Territorial Army

Kohima Band of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment – 5 PWRR
Warwickshire Band of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers – 5 RF
Northumbria Band of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers – 6 RF
Band of the Royal Anglian Regiment – 5 R ANGLIAN

Following the reductions, all above bands were reduced to the Normandy Band of the Queen's Division and the Minden Band of the Queen's Division.
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.