The Regular Infantry of the British Army

Changes from 2003 to 2007

The 2003 Defence White Paper titled Delivering Security in a Changing World led to more amalgamations into large regiments.

There are two tables here.


The first shows where the regiments merged into.

Titles in 2005			Titles in 2007

The Grenadier Guards	→		The Grenadier Guards
The Coldstream Guards	→		The Coldstream Guards
The Scots Guards	→		The Scots Guards
The Irish Guards	→		The Irish Guards
The Welsh Guards	→		The Welsh Guards
The Royal Scots	→	2006: merged into ¹	The Royal Regiment of Scotland
The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment	⇉		The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment
The King’s Own Royal Border Regiment	→	2006: merged into	The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment
The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers	⇉		The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
The King’s Regiment	→	2006: merged into	The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment
The Royal Anglian Regiment	⇉		The Royal Anglian Regiment
The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment	→ ²	2007: merged into ⁵	The Rifles
The Light Infantry	⇉	2007: merged into	The Rifles
The Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire	→	2006: merged into	The Yorkshire Regiment
The Green Howards	→	2006: merged into	The Yorkshire Regiment
The Royal Highland Fusiliers	→	2006: merged into	The Royal Regiment of Scotland
The Cheshire Regiment	→	2007: merged into	The Mercian Regiment
The Royal Welch Fusiliers	→	2006: merged into	The Royal Welsh
The Royal Regiment of Wales	→	2006: merged into	The Royal Welsh
The King’s Own Scottish Borderers	→	2006: merged into ¹	The Royal Regiment of Scotland
The Royal Irish Regiment	➡	2007: ³	The Royal Irish Regiment
The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment	→ ⁴	2007: merged into ⁵	The Rifles
The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment	→	2007: merged into	The Mercian Regiment
The Queen’s Lancashire Regiment	→	2006: merged into	The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment
The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment	→	2006: merged into	The Yorkshire Regiment
The Staffordshire Regiment	→	2007: merged into	The Mercian Regiment
The Black Watch	→	2006: merged into	The Royal Regiment of Scotland
The Highlanders	→	2006: merged into	The Royal Regiment of Scotland
The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders	→	2006: merged into	The Royal Regiment of Scotland
The Parachute Regiment	⇶		The Parachute Regiment
The Royal Gurkha Rifles	⇉		The Royal Gurkha Rifles
The Royal Green Jackets	⇉	2007: merged into	The Rifles
22^nd Special Air Service Regiment	→		22^nd Special Air Service Regiment
The Royal Gibraltar Regiment	→		The Royal Gibraltar Regiment

¹ merged as The Royal Scots Borderers
² 2005: retitled The Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry
³ 2007: 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th Home Service Batalions disbanded
⁴ 2006: retitled The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry
⁵ The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry and The Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry merged into one battalion


The second table shows what the forming partners of the new regiments were.

Formed from those in the 2005 list		Titles in 2007


The Grenadier Guards	→	The Grenadier Guards
The Coldstream Guards	→	The Coldstream Guards
The Scots Guards	→	The Scots Guards
The Irish Guards	→	The Irish Guards
The Welsh Guards	→	The Welsh Guards


The Royal Scots	} ⁶	The Royal Regiment of Scotland
The King’s Own Scottish Borderers	} ⁶
The Royal Highland Fusiliers	→
The Black Watch	→
The Highlanders	→
The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders	→


The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment	⇉	The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment


The King’s Own Royal Border Regiment	→	The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment
The King’s Regiment	→
The Queen’s Lancashire Regiment	→


The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers	⇉	The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers


The Royal Anglian Regiment	⇉	The Royal Anglian Regiment


The Prince of Wales’s Own Regiment of Yorkshire	→	The Yorkshire Regiment
The Green Howards	→
The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment	→


The Cheshire Regiment	→	The Mercian Regiment
The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment	→
The Staffordshire Regiment	→


The Royal Welch Fusiliers	→	The Royal Welsh
The Royal Regiment of Wales	→	The Royal Welsh


The Royal Irish Regiment	→	The Royal Irish Regiment


The Parachute Regiment	⇶	The Parachute Regiment


The Royal Gurkha Rifles	⇉	The Royal Gurkha Rifles


The Devonshire and Dorset Light Infantry ⁷	}	The Rifles
The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry ⁸	}
The Royal Green Jackets	⇉
The Light Infantry	⇉


22^nd Special Air Service Regiment	→	22^nd Special Air Service Regiment


The Royal Gibraltar Regiment	→	The Royal Gibraltar Regiment


⁶ merged as The Royal Scots Borderers
⁷ 2005: retitled from The Devonshire and Dorset Regiment
⁸ 2006: retitled from The Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment

The Regiments in 2008

The Regiments in 2023

Alphabetic List of the Regiments

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The Regular Infantry of the British Army
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