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Highlanders, 4th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland
Highlanders, 4th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland
	Former cap badge of the Highlanders
Active	17 September 1994 – present
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	British Army
Type	Infantry
Role	Mechanized Infantry
Size	Battalion; 743 personnel
Part of	20th Armoured Infantry Brigade
Garrison/HQ	RHQ – Cameron Barracks; Battalion – Catterick Garrison
Motto(s)	Cuidich 'n Righ (Help the King)
March	Quick: Wee Highland Laddie
Insignia
Tactical Recognition Flash
Tartan	Gordon (kilt); Seaforth Mackenzie (trews); Cameron of Erracht (pipers and drummers kilts)
Hackle	Blue; From Queens Own Cameron Highlanders/Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons)

The Highlanders, 4th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland (4 SCOTS) is an infantry battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

Prior to 28 March 2006, the Highlanders was an infantry regiment in its own right; The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons), part of the Scottish Division. The regiment was one of only two in the British Army with a Gaelic motto – Cuidich 'n Righ which means "Help the King".^[3] (The other is the Royal Irish Regiment.)^[4]

History

The regiment was formed on 17 September 1994 as part of the Options for Change defence review, by the amalgamation of the Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons) and the Gordon Highlanders.^[5]

The new regiment undertook a two-year tour of Northern Ireland from April 1995, and were stationed at Ebrington Barracks in County Londonderry. After being based in various locations around the United Kingdom, the battalion was deployed to Bosnia in 2003.^[6]

In 2004, as part of the restructuring of the infantry, it was announced that The Highlanders would be amalgamated with the other Scottish infantry regiments into the single large Royal Regiment of Scotland. The amalgamation took place on 28 March 2006. As with the other Scottish regiments, the Highlanders were permitted to retain their former name as the new battalion's primary title, with the battalion number as a subtitle. They therefore became The Highlanders, 4th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Scotland.^[5]

Prior to amalgamation, the battalion moved to the Bergen-Hohne Garrison, Bad Fallingbostel, in Germany,^[7] as part of 7 Armoured Brigade, the descendants of the Second World War's Desert Rats, equipped with the Warrior Infantry Vehicle.^[8] From here they undertook six-month tours of Iraq in 2005–06^[9] and 2008, and Afghanistan in April 2011.^[10]

In September 2015 the battalion moved from Germany to Bourlon Barracks in Catterick Garrison,^[11] where they became a heavy protected mobility battalion forming part of 20th Armoured Infantry Brigade.^[12]

As a result of Army 2020 Refine restructure, the battalion joined the Strike Experimentation Group in 2020.^[13]

Uniform and traditions

While the 4 SCOTS now wear the Government 1A pattern tartan, prior to amalgamation in 2006 the regiment wore the Gordon tartan when in kilts and the Seaforth Mackenzie when in trews. The battalion's pipers and drummers wear kilts in the Cameron of Erracht tartan. The battalion recruits from the Hebrides, the Northern Isles, the mainland counties of Inverness-shire, Ross and Cromarty, Sutherland, Caithness, Moray and Nairnshire, and from the traditional Gordon heartlands in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. The Battalion Headquarters is located at Cameron Barracks in Inverness.^[14]

The battalion is the mainstay of the British Army's only shinty team, The Scots Shinty Club. Due to the 4th Battalion's regular placements abroad, the team only plays in cup matches.^[15]

Colonel-in-Chief

1994–2006: Lieutenant General HRH The Duke of Rothesay
2006–2021: Field Marshal HRH The Duke of Edinburgh,

Regimental Colonels

Regimental colonels were:^[16]

1994–2001: Gen. Sir John Jeremy George Mackenzie
2001–2006: Brig. Hugh Brisbane Henry Ewart Monro
2006: Regiment amalgamated with The Royal Scots, The Royal Highland Fusiliers, The King's Own Scottish Borderers, The Black Watch and The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders to form The Royal Regiment of Scotland

Alliances

Canada - The Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa (Duke of Edinburgh's Own)
Canada - The 48th Highlanders of Canada
Canada - The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders of Canada
Canada - The Seaforth Highlanders of Canada
Canada - The Toronto Scottish Regiment (Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother's Own)
Australia - 10th/27th Bn, Royal South Australia Regiment
Australia - 5th/6th Bn, The Royal Victoria Regiment via The Victorian Scottish Regiment
Australia - 7th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment
Australia - The Royal South Australia Regiment
Australia - 16th Battalion, The Royal Western Australia Regiment - Formally the 16th Battalion, The Cameron Highlanders of Western Australia
New Zealand - The Otago and Southland Regiment
New Zealand - The Wellington (City of Wellington's Own) and Hawke's Bay Regiment
South Africa - Cape Town Highlanders
Royal Navy - HMS Sutherland
Royal Navy - HMS Victorious

Lineage

Lineage
The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons)	The Queen's Own Highlanders (Seaforth and Camerons)	The Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders
		The Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany's)	The 72nd (Duke of Albany's Own) Highlanders
			The 78th Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs)
	The Gordon Highlanders	The 75th (Stirlingshire) Regiment of Foot
		The 92nd (Gordon Highlanders) Regiment of Foot

References

^ "Army – Question for Ministry of Defence". p. 1. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
^ "Contacts for Queen's Own Highlanders". Retrieved 24 February 2021.
^ Queen's Own Highlanders: A Short History. p. 6. Regimental H.Q., QO Hldrs.
^ "A Tradition is Born - the Origin of the motto 'Faugh a Ballagh' and the Royal Irish Green Hackle". Royal Irish. Archived from the original on 12 November 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2018.
^ ^a ^b "Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons)". British Army units 1945 on. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
^ The Highlander. The Regimental Journal of The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordon and Cameron), Winter 2003, Volume 9, Number 2.
^ "St Barbara Barracks". BAOR Locations. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
^ "4 SCOTS". Retrieved 25 May 2014.
^ The Highlander. The Regimental Journal of The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordon and Cameron), Winter 2005, Volume 11, Number 2.
^ "Scottish soldiers deploy to Afghanistan". BBC News. 3 April 2011. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
^ "Turning Catterick Into A "Super Garrison"". Forces TV. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
^ "Regular Army Basing Announcement" (PDF). Ministry of Defence. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 August 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
^ Information on the Army 2020 refine exercise (PDF). Marlborough Lines Andover, Hampshire United Kingdom: Ministry of Defence (UK). 2017.
^ "Regimental Museum of The Queen's Own Highlanders". Retrieved 25 May 2014.
^ "SCOTS Camanachd – Armed Forces Shinty Club". Archived from the original on 10 November 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2014.
^ "The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons and Camerons)". Regiments.org. Archived from the original on 9 February 2006. Retrieved 28 February 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)