1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards

Emperor Franz Joseph as Colonel of the 1st Dragoon Guards

1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards (QDG, literally "1st Dragoon Guard of the Queen ") is a so-called " armored cavalry regiment " of the British Army . It was formed in 1959 from the former regiments 1st King's Dragoon Guards and 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) , both of which had been established by King James II of England in 1685 . Since 1896 the Austrian double-headed eagle has served as a regimental badge and the Radetzky march as a regimental march; these elements remind us that Emperor Franz Joseph was then regiment owner. (During the First World War and some time afterwards, this badge was replaced by a guard star, as it was at war with Austria-Hungary .)

The regiment served in both Gulf Wars in Iraq . In the most recent Iraq war, the QDG were responsible for setting up and running the prison camp in Umm Qasr (later: Camp Bucca ).

Web links and sources

• Official homepage of the regiment ( Memento of June 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive )