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Regimental History
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On Balaklava day, 25th October 1969 the 10th Royal Hussars and the 11th Hussars amalgamated to form The Royal Hussars. On that day the Colonel-in-Chief, Princess Alice of Gloucester took the salute and inspected the new regiment. Her husband the Duke of Gloucester had served in both regiments and been Colonel-in-Chief of the 10th Hussars.
From formation to 1973 the regiment was based at Tidworth as the Armoured Regiment of the Army Strategic Reserve. During this time, squadrons were frequently detached for tours in Cyprus, Hong Kong, Malaysia, the West Indes, British Honduras, Canada and Northern Ireland.
In June 1973 the regiment moved to Sennelager in West Germany as part of the British Army of the Rhine. They were in 6th Armoured Brigade of the 4th Division and later in the 3rd Armoured Division.
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Northern Ireland
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The Royal Hussars probably saw more service in Northern Ireland than any other regiment in the Royal Armoured Corps. There were 3 squadron tours lasting 4 months each. The first in 1974 was at the Maze Prison, the second in 1976 was in the rural role based on Armagh and finally in 1978 in Belfast City centre and the Markets. All these tours occured while they were based in West Germany.
At the same time, elements of the regiment also trained in Canada and Denmark. The Silver Jubilee in 1977 included a Royal tour of the British Army of the Rhine. A parade at Sennelager involved only 3 armoured regiments of which the Royal Hussars was one. In 1979 'D' squadron was detached to Berlin while the remainder of the regiment returned to England as the Royal Armoured Corps Training Regiment at Catterick to train all soldiers entering the RAC. There were 19 regular regiments in the Royal Armoured Corps, 15 were cavalry regiments and the other 4 were Royal Tank Regiments. In that year they changed from Mk 2/3 Chieftans to Mk 8.
In 1981 the regiment returned to Germany and were stationed at Fallingbostel as part of 7th Armoured Brigade. In 1983 the new Challenger tanks replaced the Chieftans. A short one squadron tour of Northern Ireland took place in 1985, and in 1988 the regiment returned to Tidworth under HQUK Mobile Force and a return to Chieftan tanks.
In 1990 there was a parade to present a new guidon. The Duchess of Gloucester again attended as Colonel-in-Chief and performed the task. Later, squadrons went on detached duty to Cyprus while Reconnaissance Troop went to Belize.
The Challenger tanks made a welcome return that year and the regiment moved back to Germany, less 'D' Squadron which went to Cyprus. Some individual members of the regiment went out to the Gulf during the first Gulf War and saw action but the regiment as a whole was not deployed.
Under the government's 'Options for Change', The Royal Hussars amalgamated with the 14th/20th King's Hussars to form The King's Royal Hussars on 4th December 1992.
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