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The Colonel in Chief, His Royal Highness The Duke of York, visited the 2nd Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment, the Territorial Army battalion, at Clonaver Park Territorial Army Centre in East Belfast on 10 March 2014.
The Colonel in Chief The Royal Irish Regiment, His Royal Highness The Prince Andrew, Duke of York, visited the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment at Forward Operating base Shawqat, Nad-e'-Ali on 19 December 2010 during the Battalion's deployment on Operation HERRICK 13 in Afghanistan.
Born 22nd December 1864 in Carrickfergus Ireland, the second son of William and Eliza Close, his father was a minister with the Loughmourne Reformed Presbyterian Church. Christened William Joseph, he subsequently changed his name to Joseph Kinnear Close, Kinnear being his mother’s maiden name.
Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Gloucester GCVO GCStJ was appointed Colonel-in-Chief The Royal Irish Rangers by Her Majesty The Queen.
The Colonel-in-Chief The Royal Irish Regiment, HRH Prince Andrew, Duke of York, visited the 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment at Clive Barracks, Tern Hill, Market Drayton, Shropshire, on 13 March 2018.
The Governor of Madras, Lord Erskine, on behalf of HM The King, presented a new Regimental Colour to the 1st Battalion The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers at Wellington, India, on 1 June 1939. The King's Colour had already been presented to 1st Inniskillings at Singapore in August 1938.
On the same day, The Colonel in Chief The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, HRH The Duke of Gloucester, presented a new Stand of Colours to the 2nd Battalion The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers at Catterick Camp, England. The parade was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel H A Allen.
On 16 June 2001, HRH The Duke of York, Prince Andrew, presented Stands of Colours to the 7th (Belfast) Battalion, the 8th (County Armagh and County Tyrone) and the 9th (County Antrim) Battalion, The Royal Irish Regiment. The Battalions formed up in St Patrick's Barracks and marched through Ballymena town to the Ballymena Showgrounds. The Battalions' old Ulster Defence Regiment Colours were paraded for the last time before the new Royal Irish Regiment Stands of Colours were presented.
On Saturday 17 June 2000, the Colonel in Chief, HRH The Duke of York, presented a Stand of Colours to the 3rd (County Down) Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment at St Patrick's Barracks, Ballymena. He then moved to St Lucia Barracks in Omagh and presented a Stand of Colours to the 4th (County Fermanagh and County Tyrone) Battalion. Both Battalions had paraded their Ulster Defence Regiment Colours for the last time before receiving their new Colours
Following the actions at San Fatucchio in late June 1944, the 78th Battleaxe Division, including 38 (Irish) Brigade, was withdrawn from Italy to Egypt via Rome for rest, reinforcement and training. Leave in Egypt included trips and off-duty time in the city of Cairo.
At the same time as Ireland was partitioned, the British government decided to reduce the strength of the Army. As the majority of The Royal Irish Fusiliers’ recruiting areas were then part of the newly formed Irish Free State, War Office reforms, in response to post-First World austerity measures (known as the ‘Geddes Axe’) proposed to disband all such Irish infantry regiments, except The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and The Royal Irish Rifles (to be renamed The Royal Ulster Rifles).
