Royal Gibraltar Regiment | |
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Active | April 1958-present |
Country | Gibraltar United Kingdom |
Branch | British Army |
Type | Line Infantry |
Role | Light Infantry |
Size | Total of 400+ reported as of 2019;[1] 235 reported as of 2023[2] |
Part of | Queen's Division |
Garrison/HQ | Devil's Tower Camp, Gibraltar |
Nickname(s) | The Barbarians |
Motto(s) | "Nulli expugnabilis hosti" (Latin) Conquered By No Enemy |
Anniversaries | Regimental Day: 28 April |
Engagements | Defence of Gibraltar, 1940-1945 |
Website | www |
Commanders | |
Colonel-in-Chief | Governor of Gibraltar |
Honorary Colonel | Lieutenant Colonel (Retd.) Francis Brancato |
Insignia | |
Tactical Recognition Flash | |
Arm Badge | Key of Gibraltar |
Abbreviation | RG |
The Royal Gibraltar Regiment is part of British Forces Gibraltar for the British overseas territory of Gibraltar, which historically, along with Bermuda, Halifax, Nova Scotia (prior to the 1867 Confederation of Canada which resulted in the British Army withdrawing from those colonies of British North America which joined the new dominion, other than small garrisons protecting Royal Naval facilities, and the 1905 closure of the Royal Naval yards at Halifax and Esquimalt), and Malta, had been designated an Imperial fortress rather than a colony.[3][4] It was formed in 1958 from the Gibraltar Defence Force as an infantry unit, with an integrated artillery troop. The regiment is included in the British Army as a defence engagement force.[5]
There were more than 44,000 troops stationed overseas in colonial garrisons, and slightly more than half of these were in imperial fortresses: in the Mediterranean, Bermuda, Halifax, St. Helena, and Mauritius. The rest of the forces were in colonies proper, with a heavy concentration in New Zealand and South Africa. The imperial government paid approximately £1,715,000 per annum toward the maintenance of these forces, and the various colonial governments contributed £370,000, the largest amounts coming from Ceylon and Victoria in Australia.
Besides the Imperial fortress of Malta, Gibraltar, Halifax and Bermuda it has to maintain and arm coaling stations and forts at Siena Leone, St. Helena, Simons Bay (at the Cape of Good Hope), Trincomalee, Jamaica and Port Castries (in the island of Santa Lucia).