British Army order of precedence

For the purposes of parading, the regular army of the British Army is listed according to an order of precedence. This is the order in which the various corps of the army parade, from right to left, with the unit at the extreme right being highest. Under ordinary circumstances, the Household Cavalry parades at the extreme right of the line. However, when on parade with its guns, it is the Royal Horse Artillery (usually in the form of the King's Troop) that goes to the right. Militia and Territorial Army Units take precedence after Regular units otherwise the Honourable Artillery Company and Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers would feature prominently being older than any Regular Regiments.

Usual Order of Precedence

The usual order of precedence is:

• Household Cavalry
• Royal Horse Artillery
• Royal Armoured Corps
• Royal Regiment of Artillery
• Corps of Royal Engineers
• Royal Corps of Signals
• Infantry
  • Foot Guards
  • Line Infantry
  • Royal Gurkha Rifles
  • Rifles
• Special Air Service
• Army Air Corps
• Services
  • Royal Army Chaplains Department
  • Royal Logistic Corps
  • Royal Army Medical Corps
  • Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers
  • Adjutant General's Corps
  • Royal Army Veterinary Corps
  • Small Arms School Corps
  • Royal Army Dental Corps
  • Intelligence Corps
  • Army Physical Training Corps
  • General Service Corps
  • Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps
  • Corps of Army Music
  • Royal Gibraltar Regiment

Cavalry and Infantry Orders of Precedence

Cavalry and infantry regiments of the British Army are listed in their own orders of precedence, which dates back to when regiments had numbers rather than names. The order comes from the start of the regiment's service under the Crown, up to 1881 and the "Cardwell Reforms", when the use of numbers was abolished in favour of linking with and using county names. The regiments of the Household Division are always listed first, as they are the most senior, followed by the line regiments. In today's army, which has many regiments formed through amalgamations of other regiments, the rank in the order of precedence is that of the more senior of the amalgamated units. It is for this reason that the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, one of the youngest in the army, is ranked second in the line infantry order - it is the direct descendent of the 2nd Regiment of Foot.

Cavalry Order of Precedence

Modern Regiment	Formation	Antecedent Regiments
Household Cavalry1
The Life Guards	1922	1st Life Guards, 2nd Life Guards
The Blues and Royals (Royal Horse Guards and 1st Dragoons)	1969	Royal Horse Guards, 1st Dragoons
Cavalry of the Line2
Dragoon Guards
1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards	1959	1st Dragoon Guards, 2nd Dragoon Guards
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers and Greys)	1971	3rd Dragoon Guards, 6th Dragoon Guards, 2nd Dragoons
The Royal Dragoon Guards	1992	4th Dragoon Guards, 5th Dragoon Guards, 7th Dragoon Guards, 6th Dragoons
Light Cavalry
The Queen's Royal Hussars (The Queen's Own and Royal Irish)	1993	3rd Hussars, 4th Hussars, 7th Hussars, 8th Hussars
9th/12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales's)	1960	9th Lancers, 12th Lancers
The King's Royal Hussars	1992	10th Hussars, 11th Hussars, 14th Hussars, 20th Hussars
The Light Dragoons	1992	13th Hussars, 15th Hussars, 18th Hussars, 19th Hussars
The Queen's Royal Lancers3	1993	16th Lancers, 17th Lancers, 5th Lancers, 21st Lancers
Royal Tank Regiment4
1st Royal Tank Regiment	1993	1st Royal Tank Regiment, 4th Royal Tank Regiment, 7th Royal Tank Regiment
2nd Royal Tank Regiment	1992	2nd Royal Tank Regiment, 3rd Royal Tank Regiment, 6th Royal Tank Regiment

Cavalry - Notes

^1 The 1st Life Guards, 2nd Life Guards and the Royal Horse Guards, were originally termed Horse Guards and given precedence over the Cavalry regiments of the Line. The 1st Royal Dragoons was a line regiment.
^2 In the sequence for Cavalry of the Line, Cavalry, consisting of Dragoon Guards, come first in the order of precedence with their own numbering sequence. Light Cavalry, consisting of Dragoons, Hussars and Lancers, have their own (single) sequence, hence 1st Dragoons, 3rd Hussars, 5th Lancers, 6th Dragoons, 8th Hussars, 9th Lancers, etc.
^3 Although one of the antecedent regiments of the Queen's Royal Lancers was the 5th Lancers, this regiment was formed in the 1850s, resurrecting the number of an old regiment and thus ranked in precedence after the 17th Lancers.
^4 The two individual regiments that make up the Royal Tank Regiment are not included in the order of precedence separately; the RTR (which was formed during the First World War) takes final place in the cavalry/RAC order as a whole.

Infantry Order of Precedence

The infantry is ranked in the order of Foot Guards, Line Infantry⁵, Rifles:

Modern Regiment	Formation	Antecedent Regiments
The Royal Marines6	1755	1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th Regts of Marines (44th-53rd Foot)
Foot Guards
Grenadier Guards	1656	King's Royal Regt of Guards, Wentworth's Regt
Coldstream Guards	1650
Scots Guards	1642	Marquis of Argyll's Royal Regiment
Irish Guards	1900
Welsh Guards	1915
Line Infantry7
The Royal Regiment of Scotland	2006	1st, 21st, 25th, 42nd, 71st, 72nd, 73rd, 74th, 75th, 78th, 79th, 91st, 92nd, 93rd Regts of Foot
The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshires)	1992	2nd, 3rd, 31st, 35th, 37th, 50th, 57th, 67th, 70th, 77th, 97th, 107th Regts of Foot
The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border)	2006	4th, 8th, 30th, 34th, 40th, 47th, 55th, 59th, 63rd, 81st, 82nd, 96th Regts of Foot
The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers	1968	5th, 6th, 7th, 20th Regts of Foot
The Royal Anglian Regiment	1964	9th, 10th, 12th, 16th, 17th, 44th, 48th, 56th, 58th Regts of Foot
The Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th and 33rd/76th Foot)	2006	14th, 15th, 19th, 33rd, 76th Regts of Foot
The Mercian Regiment	2007	22nd, 29th, 36th, 38th, 45th, 64th, 80th, 95th, 98th Regts of Foot
The Royal Welsh	2006	23rd, 24th, 41st, 69th Regts of Foot
The Royal Irish Regiment (27th (Inniskilling) 83rd and 87th and Ulster Defence Regiment)	1992	27th, 83rd, 86th, 87th, 89th, 108th Regts of Foot, Ulster Defence Regiment
The Parachute Regiment	1942	Army Commandos
Rifles8
The Royal Gurkha Rifles	1994	2nd, 6th, 7th, 10th Gurkha Rifles
The Rifles	2007	11th, 13th, 28th, 32nd, 39th, 43rd, 46th, 49th, 51st, 52nd, 53rd, 54th, 60th, 61st, 62nd, 66th, 68th, 85th, 99th, 105th, 106th Regts of Foot, The Rifle Brigade
Others
The Special Air Service	1944

Infantry - Notes

^5 The infantry order of precedence has several missing numbers, due to infantry regiments being disbanded:

• The Royal Irish Regiment (disbanded 1922) - 18th Regt of Foot
• The Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) (suspended animation 1968; disbanded 1987) - 26th, 90th Regts of Foot
• The York and Lancaster Regiment (suspended animation 1968; disbanded 1987) - 65th, 84th Regts of Foot
• The Connaught Rangers (disbanded 1922) - 88th, 94th Regts of Foot
• The Prince of Wales's Leinster Regiment (Royal Canadians) (disbanded 1922) - 100th, 109th Regts of Foot
• The Royal Munster Fusiliers (disbanded 1922) - 101st, 104th Regts of Foot
• The Royal Dublin Fusiliers (disbanded 1922) - 102nd, 103rd Regts of Foot

^6 The Royal Marines, as the descendent of the old Army marine regiments of the 17th and 18th centuries, were included in the Order of Precedence after the descendent of the 49th Foot (the Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Light Infantry), which was the last regiment formed prior to the formation of the Royal Marines, when not on parade with the Royal Navy. On the completion of the infantry reorganisation in 2007, the RGBWLI became part of The Rifles, and moved last in the Order of Precedence. As of April 2008 the Royal Marines are considered to no longer be a separate arm of the Royal Navy, but rather an integral part of it. Therefore they no longer have a place amongst the (Army) infantry regiments and now take their place as part of the Royal Navy and parade on the right of the line. Even if there is no other Naval contingent present they are the senior formation on ceremonial occasions. If other contingents of the Royal Navy are on parade, the Royal Marines take their place after them, but before all army regiments and corps. ("The Royal Marines are no longer in the Army order of precedence, but now assume precedence within the Royal Navy at all times." Defence Instructions and Notices (DIN) 2007DIN09-027 "The Precedence of Regiments and Corps in the Army and within the Infantry" released August 2007.)
^7 Up to 2006, five line infantry regiments had never been amalgamated in their entire history. In 2006 and 2007, these were amalgamated into large regiments under the planned reorganisation of the infantry:

• The Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment) - 1st Regt of Foot (now part of 1 SCOTS)
• The Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment) - 19th Regt of Foot (now 2 YORKS)
• The 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment - 22nd Regt of Foot (now 1 MERCIAN)
• The Royal Welch Fusiliers - 23rd Regt of Foot (now 1 R WELSH)
• The King's Own Scottish Borderers - 25th Regt of Foot (now part of 1 SCOTS)

^8 Although The Rifles is descended from many numbered regiments, it is last in the order of precedence because the unnumbered regiment The Rifle Brigade has served longest as a rifle regiment. The Royal Gurkha Rifles comes before The Rifles because one of its predecessors (the 2nd Gurkhas) entered service before the Rifle Brigade ceased using its old number (95th). As both the Royal Gurkha Rifles and The Rifles are rifle regiments they come last in the order of precedence, with only the SAS after them (the SAS does not fall into any of the other categories). This is why the Parachute Regiment, which is classed as a line infantry regiment, comes above both.

Precedence within the Territorial Army

1. Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers (Militia)
2. Honourable Artillery Company
3. Royal Armoured Corps
   • The Royal Yeomanry
   • The Royal Wessex Yeomanry
   • The Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry
   • The Queen's Own Yeomanry
4. Royal Regiment of Artillery (Volunteers)
5. Corps of Royal Engineer (Volunteers)
6. Royal Corps of Signals (Volunteers)
7. Infantry
   • 52nd Lowland, 6th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland
   • 51st Highland, 7th Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland
   • 3rd Battalion, The Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment (Queen’s and Royal Hampshires)
   • The London Regiment
   • 4th Battalion, The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (King's, Lancashire and Border)
   • 5th Battalion, The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
   • 3rd Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment
   • 4th Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment (14th/15th, 19th & 33rd/76th Foot)
   • 4th Battalion, The Mercian Regiment
   • 3rd Battalion, The Royal Welsh
   • 2nd Battalion, The Royal Irish Regiment (27th Inniskilling), 83rd, 87th & Ulster Defence Regiment
   • 4th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment
   • 6th Battalion, The Rifles
   • 7th Battalion, The Rifles
8. Special Air Service
   • 21st Special Air Service Regiment (Artists Rifles)
   • 23rd Special Air Service Regiment
9. Army Air Corps (Volunteers)
10. The Royal Logistic Corps (Volunteers)
11. Royal Army Medical Corps (Volunteers)
12. Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (Volunteers)
13. Adjutant General’s Corps (Volunteers)
14. Intelligence Corps (Volunteers)
15. The Royal Gibraltar Regiment (As a Colonial Force The Royal Gibraltar Regiment comes after the TA)