Royal Anglian Regiment

A Brief History of the Royal Anglian Regiment

The Royal Anglian Regiment is the regiment of ten counties of East Anglia and the East Midlands. It was formed in 1964 from the regiments of the East Anglian Brigade, which themselves had been formed through a series of amalgamations of former county regiments between 1958 and 1960. Thus the regiment traces its history back to 1685 with direct descendency from:

The Royal Norfolk Regiment

The Royal Lincolnshire Regiment

The Suffolk Regiment, including the Cambridgeshire Regiment

The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment

The Royal Leicestershire Regiment

The Essex Regiment

The Northamptonshire Regiment

The regiment was the first large regiment of infantry to be formed in the British Army and comprises two regular battalions, the 1st (nicknamed the Vikings) and the 2nd (the Poachers) and two Territorial Army battalions, the 6th and 7th (the Tigers). The regiment maintains strong links with the counties from which the former regiments recruited and most of its soldiers and officers come from this area. these links, of which the regiment is enormously proud, are illustrated by their enjoying the freedom of 33 cities and towns in the region and close affiliations with many local cadet forces and schools.

Infantrymen moving at speed in a Spartan.

Regimental march - "Rule Brittania".