1st Battalion Three Colours c1920

The Queen's had the distinction of a third Colour. From the earliest times the regiment had green Colours because of the patronage of the Queen, in their case Queen Catherine. Other infantry regiments had three Colours up until c1750 when they were all ordered to have just two. The Queen's ignored this order and continued with the three. Lt-General Fowke who was Colonel of the regiment from 1741 to 1755 ordered the removal of the third Colour, much to the annoyance of the regiment, and the green was changed to blue in 1768.
In 1825 the third Colour was restored but with a different design; the Paschal Lamb replaced Catherine's reversed cypher. It wasn't until 1893 that the third Colour, seen here was restored by Lt-Col Broderick who commanded the 1st battalion in Malta. It became known as the First Malta Colour and was trooped with the regiment ever since.
The cypher of Queen Catherine was restored to the Regimental Colour, on the right, in 1902, replacing the VR cypher of Queen Victoria. The Regimental and Queen's Colours are the ones that were presented to the 1st Battalion in 1847 and which lasted 100 years, albeit with many changes.

Regimental details | Colours