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HMS QUEEN ELIZABETH - A NEW AFFILIATION
by Major J E N B Shaw
Grenadier Guards


The Commanding Officer Grenadier Guards and Captain Petitt RN,
Captain of HMS Queen Elizabeth

The Grenadier Guards has maintained a long and proud affiliation with the Royal Navy, dating back to the Dutch Wars in the early 1700s when Guardsmen from the First Regiment of Foot Guards served as infantrymen aboard warships.  Back then, and in no real change to the Royal Marines of today, the Guardsmen lived in the bottom or ribs of the ship ready to repel an attack if called up onto the deck.  It is because of this time in the ribs of a ship that the 3rd Battalion became known as ‘The Ribs’ and the Inkerman Company now proudly carries that title forward.  And while many regiments have affiliations, the Grenadier Guards has always ensured that ours remains active and beneficial for all.

Until the sad decommissioning of HMS Illustrious in Autumn 2013, the Inkerman Company and wider Battalion had enjoyed a long affiliation with one of the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers.  This had been expressed through many enjoyable visits aboard ‘Lusty’ including a number of long sea transits.  One of the more memorable occasions was in 2005 when members of the Inkerman Company under Lt Patrick Hennessy found themselves onboard Illustrious for a Royal visit in the Mediterranean.  Fortunately, they had brought their tunics and positioned themselves so that the first thing Her Majesty would see when arriving on deck was a detachment of Grenadiers looking resplendent in full ceremonial dress.  The plan worked well and Her Majesty headed straight for the Grenadiers demanding to know ‘What are you doing here!

With the de-commissioning of Illustrious the logical successor to continue the affiliation was HMS Queen Elizabeth, one of the new carriers. The first and most obvious link with this ship is that Her Majesty is our Colonel in Chief, but there are other links as well.  HMS Queen Elizabeth will be based in Hampshire at her home port of Portsmouth and the 1st Battalion is based and will remain based not far away in Aldershot for the foreseeable future.  The Hampshire link was firmly cemented by the former Lord Lieutenant for Hampshire, and great supporter of the Battalion, Dame Mary Fagan, who had already established close links with HMS Queen Elizabeth.

In July 2014, the Captain of HMS Queen Elizabeth, Captain Simon Petitt, invited the Commanding Officer to the Commissioning ceremony of the ship and the formal beginning of the affiliation was marked with an exchange of plaques (and a most enjoyable dinner) on Trafalgar Day in October.

Much has been reported about the ‘top trumps’ statistics of HMS Queen Elizabeth and at 280 metres long she is a truly impressive sight to see, the biggest and most powerful surface warship ever constructed for the Royal Navy, and with the ability to deliver strategic effect and influence around the world.  There have been more than twenty ships named Elizabeth, with battle honours going back to the Armada in 1588. But prior to this new ship, only one warship was named Queen Elizabeth, a pre-First World War battleship, the first oil-powered capital ship of the Royal Navy, and the first to be equipped with the 15 in gun, capable of firing a shell weighing nearly one ton just short of 20 miles.

We are very proud to be affiliated to the Royal Navy’s newest and most impressive ship and look forward to another long period of close links and friendship.

 

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