Royal Canadian Regiment
The Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR) is an infantry regiment of the Canadian Army. The regiment consists of four battalions, three in the Regular Force and one in the primary reserve. The RCR is ranked first in the order of precedence amongst Canadian Army infantry regiments, but in a quirk of the rules of seniority, its 4th battalion is ninth.
Not to be confused with Royal Regiment of Canada.The Royal Canadian Regiment
21 December 1883 – present
Canada
- Mechanized infantry (two battalions)
- light role/paratroop (one battalion)
- light role/primary reserve (one battalion)
Four battalions
formally Royal Canadians, informally Junior Royals
Pro patria (Latin for 'for country')
- Quick – "The Royal Canadian Regiment" (aka "St. Catharines")
- Slow – "Pro Patria"
- Regimental birthday – 21 December
- Paardeberg Day – 27 February
- Pachino Day – 10 July
- Mons Day – 10 November
- Kowang-san Day – 23 October[1]
Commander-in-Chief Unit Commendation – 1st Battalion: Afghanistan, 2006.
See #Battle honours
Vacant
MGen (ret’d) Denis W. Thompson
Judith Irving, Mike Holmes
Maple Leaf (2nd Bn pipes and drums)
RCR
The RCR was originally authorized as the Infantry School Corps on 21 December 1883, and established its first three company stations at Fredericton, New Brunswick; St Jean, Quebec; and Toronto, Ontario. In 1887 a fourth company was authorized and the next year was established at London, Ontario. Now consisting of three Regular Force battalions and one Reserve Force battalion, the regiment's four battalions are now stationed in Ontario and New Brunswick. With many of its soldiers drawn from Ontario and the Atlantic Provinces in recent decades, the regiment maintains a general connection as the "local" infantry regiment for anglophone eastern Canada.
The regiment is a "British-style" infantry regiment that is the spiritual home and repository of customs and traditions for a number of battalions that do not necessarily serve together operationally. The RCR maintains its Regimental Headquarters (RHQ) in Petawawa, Ontario, which has no operational command role but handles regimental affairs outside the responsibility of the individual battalions. The Royal Canadian Regiment Museum is located within historic Wolseley Hall in London, Ontario. Wolseley Barracks in London has been continuously occupied by some element of the regiment since construction of Wolseley Hall was completed in 1888. At various times Wolseley Barracks has been the home of the Regimental Headquarters, the 1st and 2nd Battalions, and remains the home of the 4th Battalion today.
Regimental cypher.
The regimental colour of 1st Battalion.
The camp flag.
Regimental colour of 1st Battalion
Recognition[edit]
Freedom of the City was exercised by the Royal Canadian Regiment in Fredericton, New Brunswick on 2 June 1973[17] and in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador on June 19, 2005.[18]
On 10 November 1983 Canada Post issued 'The Royal Canadian Regiment, The British Columbia Regiment' as part of the Canadian Forces, Regiments, 1883–1983 series. The stamps were designed by Ralph Tibbles, based on a painting by William Southern. The 32¢ stamps are perforated 13.5 × 13 and were printed by Canadian Bank Note Company, Limited.[19]
Honorary appointments[edit]
Colonel-in-chief[edit]
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was appointed as the colonel-in-chief of the RCR on 8 December 1953 and held the appointment until his death in 2021. Prince Philip had only one predecessor in this appointment: Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, from 1929 to 1942.
The RCR cap badge[edit]
"An eight-pointed diamond cut star; upon the star a raised circle surmounted by the crown; within the raised circle, the block letters "VRI", the Imperial Cypher of Queen Victoria." (Description of the badge of The RCR as presented in Regiments and Corps of the Canadian Army, published by the Army Historical Section, 1964)
The letters VRI on the cap badge of The RCR stand for Victoria Regina Imperatrix, which is Latin for "Victoria, Queen and Empress". The right to wear the imperial cypher and crown was granted to the regiment by Queen Victoria in 1893.
When a royal or imperial cypher forms part of the badge of a regiment it is normal for it to change with each succeeding sovereign. During the period 1901 to 1919, the officially authorized versions of the regiment's cap badge were those with Edward VII's and George V's cyphers, although the regiment continued to use the "VRI" ensigned badges throughout this time while petitioning for their formal return. In 1919, George V granted The Royal Canadian Regiment permission to wear "VRI" in perpetuity – a unique privilege.
The companies of the battalions of The RCR are lettered sequentially across the regiment:
In the Regular Force battalions, the first four companies are rifle companies, and the latter two are combat support (weapons) and administration company (combat service support).
When on parade, companies parade in alphabetic order. Companies are normally addressed by the NATO phonetic alphabet for their designation letter with the following exceptions:
Regimental bands[edit]
Bugles and Drums[edit]
The first band of The RCR was formed under "A" Company of the Infantry School Corps in 1894, when Sergeant Charles Hayes, a graduate of Kneller Hall Music College, enlisted in January 1894.[25] That same year the corps also reported training nine buglers for the Militia.
By 1899, the authorized establishment for the regiment included four "Sergt. Trumpeters or Drummers" on the staff of the Regimental Depots along with 16 "Trumpeters, Buglers or Drummers" between the stations of the regiment. By 1901, the authorized establishment had changed to one "Sergt. Trumpeters or Drummers" and 12 "Trumpeters, Buglers or Drummers",[26] possibly indicating a consolidation of musicians into a regimental band rather than a training cadre at each garrison.
The regiment reported having an active band throughout much of the First World War, once their instruments were smuggled forward for them to use. With few lapses, the regiment maintained a Drum and Bugle band at least until the 1990s, when the 1st Battalion had a Drum and Bugle Corps within the ranks of C Company.[27]
Pipes and Drums[edit]
In 1970, following a review of the regular army, a number of infantry battalions were disbanded. The Canadian Guards and the Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada lost both of their regular battalions, with personnel being distributed to The Royal Canadian Regiment. The 2nd Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment adopted the Pipes and Drums of the Black Watch, becoming the Pipes and Drums of the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment.[28] The 3rd Battalion of The RCR, similarly, adopted the Pipes and Drums of the 2nd Battalion, The Canadian Guards, when they were disbanded.[29] In 1977 the 3rd Battalion Pipes and Drums were redesignated the Special Service Force Pipes and Drums.
The 2nd Battalion The Royal Canadian Regiment currently maintains the only Pipes and Drums in the Canadian regular army. Regimental pipers where a distinctive cap badge in their glengarry or feather bonnet. This is the regimental cap badge on a circular belt on which the Regiment's name is inscribed. This follows the practice of the Canadian Guards pipers' cap badge.[30] In the 2000s, the Pipe Band began wearing an embroidered piper's badge with their feather bonnets.[31][32]
The RCR Band[edit]
The members of the regiment who form the Drum and Bugles and Pipes and Drums bands are trained infantrymen of their battalions who are employed secondarily as musicians. The RCR Band, in contrast, was a professional brass and reed band manned by military musicians. The band in its final state was formed at Wolesley Barracks in 1947. It subsequently moved to CFB Gagetown in 1970 as a consequence of the 1968 Canadian Forces unification. During this period, it participated in many high profile events including the Canadian Armed Forces Tattoo held as part of the 1967 Canadian Centennial. It also played at events as diverse as the 1980 Silver Broom curling championship in Fredericton, during the Royal Visit to New Brunswick in 1984, and at the 40th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands in 1985.[33] In its earlier forms, it was guided by the Standing Orders of The Royal Canadian Regiment of 1935, which constituted its activities.[34] A notable member of the band is Jean-Pierre Montminy, an officer who has served in La Musique du Royal 22e Régiment as well as at the Canadian Forces School of Music.
War of 1812: The Royal Canadian Regiment perpetuates the 1st Regiment of the Middlesex Militia (1812–15) and the 1st Regiment of the Oxford Militia (1812–15).
First World War: The Regiment perpetuates a number of units of the Canadian Militia and the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) of the First World War:[39]
Order of precedence[edit]
Regular Force:
Reserve Force:
Possible specialist Arctic sovereignty role[edit]
It has been suggested in a Canadian professional military journal that the regiment's third battalion (3 RCR) could be adapted to become a specialized light infantry battalion that is able to deploy parachute infantry and marine infantry company groups to support the protection of Canada's sovereignty in the Arctic.[41]