Queen attends battalions' farewell

12 April 2012

The Queen has attended the final review of the home service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment in Belfast.

The three battalions are being disbanded next year after 36 years of continuous operational duty in Northern Ireland.

Several thousand members of the regiment, and its predecessor the Ulster Defence Regiment, attended the ceremony at the Balmoral Showgrounds in the south of the city.

The event was the Army's official farewell to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th battalions of the RIR, which will disband in July next year when the Army's decades-long role of supporting the police in Northern Ireland - Operation Banner - comes to an end.

More than 60,000 men and women have served either full-time or part-time in the RIR and the UDR since 1970.

The 1st battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment will continue its role in the regular army. In recent years it has served with distinction in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Queen was accompanied by her son the Duke of York, who is Colonel in Chief of the RIR.

The Parade was attended by a range of political figures, current and former members of the regiments, disabled veterans and relatives of many of the 274 serving and former serving members who lost their lives during the war on terrorism.

Many widows and children of fallen soldiers were among the 9,000 regimental spectators at the event.

Some 300 home service soldiers drawn from the three battalions facing disbandment paraded in the arena at the Balmoral Showgrounds, together with 100 former UDR soldiers from the Regimental Association. They were accompanied by some 100 musicians from the Band of the Royal Irish Regiment.

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