Queen bids farewell

Oct 11, 2006, 14:58 GMT

Britain's Queen Elizabeth said goodbye to the Royal Green Jackets regiment at a reception last night (10.10.06).

The monarch - the Colonel-in-Chief of the regiment - fittingly wore a green dress for the event, which paid homage to the Green Jackets ahead of its merger with three other infantry regiments as part of a major reconstruction of the army.

The move will see the queen's husband Prince Philip become their new Colonel-in Chief.

Over 550 past and present Green Jacket soldiers gathered to bid farewell to the queen at St James's Palace.

Lord Bramall, the most senior Green Jacket rifleman, told Britain's Daily Mail newspaper: "I said it was sad that she wasn't going to be our Colonel-in-Chief and she said, 'Yes it is sad after all these years'."

"These things happen in the army. Although there is sadness, there's great optimism about the new regiment. They will draw on the heritage of all the regiments. It's a new challenge."

Kevin Williams, 17, the youngest rifleman in the 1st Battalion Royal Green Jackets, was also at the reception - he is due to fly out to Iraq the day after his 18th birthday.

Williams joked: "I'm more nervous about meeting the queen than going to Basra."

On February 1, 2007, the Green Jackets become The Rifles when they merge with The Light Infantry, Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry and the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry.

The Royal Green Jackets was officially recognised as a regiment in 1966, but their origins date back as far as the Battle of Louisburg in 1758 and Waterloo.

They were the first to wear green uniforms as camouflage, instead of red outfits.

(C) BANG Media International