My fellow Lancers,
As I approached Catterick this morning for my first visit as your very proud Colonel-in-Chief, I couldn’t help but recall my father’s description of his initial impressions of the 12th Lancers, when he joined the Regiment back in 1937. In his memoir, “Previous Engagements”, he wrote:
“Everyone was very welcoming and the atmosphere was relaxed…I was taken under the wing of the Adjutant, as nice a man as ever lived and a quietly efficient soldier. I was profoundly indebted to him as he not only pulled me out of various scrapes, without necessarily informing the Colonel, but also judiciously handed me over to certain senior NCOs, who took my education in hand and tactfully but firmly directed my floundering steps. They were very competent nannies with a decidedly un-nannylike capacity for beer”.
Today, 87 years later, I am delighted to see that the atmosphere amongst the Lancers remains welcoming and relaxed and that you still have a very nice, quietly efficient Adjutant… although I shan’t ask about the NCOs capacity for beer!
I know you have been particularly busy, as you prepare for imminent operational tours to Poland, Kosovo, and Cyprus, and I am glad that today serves as an opportunity to bring you all together. My father described the Regiment as a “highly efficient entity, highly skilled, and full of personalities”, I have no doubt that your upcoming deployments will be characteristically successful and will only add to our Regiment’s rich history.
The Lancers have always struck me for their family spirit, whose comfort and support I experienced as a daughter of the Regiment, and I’m delighted to see so many families and members of the Old Comrades Association here today. Particularly now, as so many of your loved ones look to deploy overseas.
During the British Expeditionary Force’s withdrawal to Dunkirk, battling against insidious tiredness, poor mapping, and an ever-advancing enemy force, my father reflected:
“My troop were wonderful” and “I know as a Troop Leader how much I owe to these… soldiers”
As you look towards a deployment of challenge and complexity, I know this fierce Lancers camaraderie will be replicated as you strive to make our world a safer place.
I wish you all Godspeed over the coming months, the greatest of good fortune and a very safe return.
