X-Nico

7 unusual facts about Royal Green Jackets


Hugh Trenchard, 3rd Viscount Trenchard

Trenchard served in the 4th Battalion, The Royal Green Jackets from 1972 to 1980, reaching the rank of Captain.

Jonesborough, County Armagh

The IRA unit was involved in a gun battle with a Green Jackets' observation post deployed in the area, and the helicopter was sent in to support the ground troops.

Richard Wood, Baron Holderness

Wood became Honorary Colonel of the Queen's Royal Rifles in 1962 and Honorary Colonel of the 4th (Volunteer) Battalion, Royal Green Jackets between 1967 and 1969.

Rifle regiment

(The use of green was so distinctive that it led to the naming of the Green Jackets Brigade who became the Royal Green Jackets.)

Robin Bridgeman, 3rd Viscount Bridgeman

He served in the Rifle Brigade in the years 1950 and 1951, commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant, and in the Royal Green Jackets reaching the rank of Lieutenant.

The Troubles in Crossmaglen

4 March 1978 - Nicholas Smith (20), 7 Platoon, B Company, 2 RGJ, Royal Green Jackets, British Army was killed by a Provisional Irish Republican Army booby trap bomb while removing an Irish flag from a telegraph pole in Crossmaglen.

Timothy Peake

Upon graduation from Sandhurst in 1992, Peake served as a platoon Commander with the now defunct light infantry regiment, the Royal Green Jackets.


Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings

A second explosion occurred just over two hours later, when a bomb hidden underneath the bandstand in Regent's Park exploded during a performance of the music from Oliver! by the Royal Green Jackets band to a crowd of 120 people.

RAF Flowerdown

In the early 1980s the Site was to become the new depot for The Royal Green Jackets when they moved from Peninsula Barracks, Winchester, and was named "Sir John Moore Barracks".


see also