RRoS Presentation of Colors 3 Jul 2011

[longhuntr74]

So I was surfing Facebook today and saw some pics posted by a friend of a friend of a review ceremony held by the Royal Regiment of Scotland yesterday (3 Jul 2011). I believe that the regiment was presented with new colors at the ceremony. My reason for posting this message is that I'm a bit surprised that none of our members across the pond has posted any info or pictures regarding this event (or at least I've missed it if they did). Were any members here in attendance?

I'll admit that I copied the majority of this guy's pics...but I'm hesitant to post them here since they aren't my pics...and I don't even know the guy who posted them. In fact, I don't even really know the common friend, except through Facebook. His profile pic had him decked out in RRoS Mess dress, so I sent him a message and friend request on a whim...which he accepted and we exchanged a couple of messages back and forth. What do the masses think? Would it be okay to post a picture or two? Does anybody have any pics or info on the event that they've obtained more legitimately?

[Chas]

I see no reason for not posting them, provided you do as the papers do and attribute EACH photograph to the person and a note of thanks at the end.

(© Joe Somebody 2011)

Regards

Chas

[theborderer]

The notification from RHQ RRoS was posted on Friday, the day before. and many ex soldiers of the Regiments passed on their greetings. All Battalions of the new Regiment will lay up their old colours.

[Dale-of-Cedars]

YouTube: Queen Presents New Colours - July 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTaZvybmXCA

[English Bloke]

I don't know about this one but most Regimental Parades are not open to the public and are by invite only so unless you have a connection with the Regiment of a chum on the inside, you ain't getting in... Unfortunately not all Regiments have a spectacular and public "Trooping the Colour" like the Guards Division.

Daily Telegraph article

[longhuntr74]

These pics were taken from the internet. Poster (and I believe owner of the pics) is a gentleman by the name of Barry McDougall. If the owner sees these and objects to me posting them, I will remove them immediately if you contact me.







And lastly...the common friend referenced...Drum Major Brian Alexander.

[OC Richard]

Lovely photos! Thanks for posting.

Warning: the following are wistful musings on the uniform of the RRS...

Combining all of the Scottish regiments into the RRS, and being kilted, for me represents yet another step in the process of the kilt's transition from a regional dress to a national dress.

Many in Scotland, from what I've heard and read, would have preferred two regiments, Highland and Lowland, thus preserving their longstanding distinction in uniform. The idea of Royal Scots and Kings Own Scottish Borderers in kilts does strike one as odd, though the Highlandisaton of Lowland uniform has been taking place for a long time, beginning with the adoption of tartan trews and other bits of Highland uniform in the 19th century.

It was a tough task, creating a generic uniform for the new Royal Regiment of Scotland. I think, all in all, the MOD did as good a job as one could do.

For the tartan they went with Government AKA Black Watch, inevitable in a way as that was the tartan of the earliest kilted regiments. Interesting that they chose to have the kilts boxpleated. Of the old kilted Highland regiments it was around 50/50 knifepleated/boxpleated so that decision might well have gone either way.

Interesting that for sporrans they put all ranks in the same sporran: traditionally sporrans were rank-distinctive. They chose the cantle of Sergeants, Officers, and Pipers of The Black Watch. But for tassels they went with two long tassels. Originally the long hair sporrans of all Highland regiments had five or six short tassels. In the second half of the 19th century the Seaforth Highlanders, Cameron Highlanders, and Gordon Highlanders went with two long tassels. For that reason, one might have thought that the RRS would have retained the more traditional five or six short tassels but alas.

Another issue is the dicing on the Glengarries. Glengarries were adopted in the mid-19th century, those of the Black Watch and the Cameron Highlanders being plain, those of the Gordon Highlanders and Seaforth Highlanders having three-colour dicing, and lastly the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders having two-colour dicing. Perhaps because the Lowland regiments, in the 19th century, adopted Highlandesque headdress with three-colour dicing, the RRS went with that.

As far as hose go, since all kilted regiments orignally wore red&white diced hose one might have thought the RRS would have gone that way. Instead they went with the red&black hose adopted in the 19th century by the Gordon Highlanders and The Black Watch, and incidentally the black spat buttons of the Gordon Highlanders.

I don't know if there are any of you XMarkers who give a second thought to Highland uniform, but if so, what do you think of the decisions which went into creating a generic Scottish military uniform for the RRS? Do you feel that what was created was the best embodiment of Scottish military uniform traditions? Or is there some aspect that you would have preferred go another way?

For example, I really would have liked to have seen the return of red doublets for Highland soldiers! I've got a bit used to Archer Green, used since 1953 for all ranks' No1 Dress, but red would be so much better in my opinion.

[Trey]

Let’s just say that I am glad I did not have to sit on the board that had to rip apart uniforms and put them back together, not a job that makes many friends....

I too wish to have seen scarlet tunics again; at least the highland band wears them.

What is your opinion on the gray greatcoats? I don’t know what was worn before but they appear to be exactly the same as the coats worn by the foot guards in London.

I think that cost may have won out during the battle of the sporran; one pattern is cheaper than 2 or more....especially if that one pattern uses an existing cantle and looks oddly like the generic pipe band sporran in most other aspects. Cost is clearly an issue as the kilts were contracted to an English skit maker [I hope the outcry after the news leaked changed things and I can’t find that BBC article, sorry].

I don’t think the tartan was ever really going anywhere but BW and the black spat buttons were "odd" therefore they were guaranteed a place by sheer force of being able to have a storied uniform.

I am not a hose or glen expert but they did settle on my favorite hose [Red/Black and lovat green] and my favorite pattern of glen so that made me smile.

Aside from their smashing uniform I am very sore I missed this historic parade. How can I find out about this sort of MAJOR historic event far enough in advance to schedule a trip?

[macwilkin]

I don’t think the tartan was ever really going anywhere but BW and the black spat buttons were "odd" therefore they were guaranteed a place by sheer force of being able to have a storied uniform.

The black spat buttons come from the Gordon Highlanders; the Gordons wore them in memory of General Sir John Moore, who fell at Corunna during the Peninsular War.

T.

[OC Richard]

Yes, and the black spat buttons were not adopted in isolation but as part of a suite of additions of black to the uniform (not all of which occured at the same time)

-black spat buttons
-a strand of black cord interwoven with the gold cord of officers' epaulettes (this could still be seen with the officers' uniforms of The Highlanders until the creation of the RRS)
-a black line in the centre of the gold lace on officers' jackets
-black and red hose (as opposed to the orginal white and red hose; this change didn't occur until c1860)
-and possibly unrelated, but ORs of the Gordon Highlanders wore black sporrans until the 1880s when white sporrans were adopted

Also, the spats of the old Gordon Highlanders were taller than hose of the other kilted regiments... yet another of the many subtle ways that the uniform varied from regiment to regiment in the old days.