Public Duties 1984

In October 1984 the regiment was given the honour of mounting guard at Buckingham Palace.

A company of 150 soldiers together with the Band and Corps of Drums under the command of Maj. Lake went to London for a three week commitment.

In addition to guarding the Palace they mounted guards at the Tower of London and St. James's Palace.

The commanding officer Lt-Col. Mackereth, who commanded one of the guards, later remembered 'It was a great feeling marching down the Mall behind one's own regimental band's superb music'.

Several members of the Battalion were interviewed by a reporter from the Soldier Magazine with the following quotes

Lieutenant Colonel Bill Mackereth (Commanding Officer)

"This was the first time that the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment had been granted this enormous privilege, the Battalion came into being in 1959 as a result of the merger of the Royal Berkshire Regiment and the Wiltshire Regiment, Research had shown that neither of those Regiments had ever done this duty before. Our Colonel in Chief Prince Phillip, came up and presented us with new colours in June, for which we had a three week intensive period of drill, so we weren't totally out of training, however we have been extremely busy during these past months. We've spent six weeks in Canada, we spent a week on a KAPE tour of Berkshire and Wiltshire, some of us went to Germany umpiring Exercise Lionheart, and we've been preparing to go to Cyprus. When I was asked back in February whether the Battalion was prepared to take on the job, I relied "Yes absolutely delighted"
"I was slightly nervous on the one occasion I acted as Captain of the Guard, but immensely relieved when we marched off, a great feeling of pride too, marching behind ones own regimental bands superb music"

Major Anthony Lake (OC A Company 1 DERR)

"I was extremely nervous, it is probably the most nerve racking thng I have done in my Military career. And it wasn't the first time we did it, it was the second time as well"
"Under normal circumstances the battalion did very little drill. Even in recruit training, drill had been cut right down in favour of more tactical work. In fact to prepare for their current assignment a fair amount of new drill had to be learned, particularly the slow march."

In the final Week

"We have all enjoyed it, I think it is wearing a bit thin now and we are quite pleased we are not guardsmen, but, by Jove, there aren't too many people who haven't been pleased to be up here"

Captain John Rylands (2i/c A Company 1 DERR)

"I could never be an actor, if that's what its like" Captain RYLANDS frankly admitting some mistakes "But I am not going to tell you what they were, its to embarrassing" Though he did say one one occasion he had given the wrong order "But the Soldiers were in fact so well trained that they did the right thing almost regardless of what they were told, as long as someone was making the right sort of noise at the right time"

Colour Sergeant Toby North

"I think its brilliant, having people watching you, its a bit like being a celebrity. Its been a good, a very good experience, but I'll be glad to get back to prepare for Cyprus."

Corporal Alan McIntyre

"Its alright, but it gets a bit repetitive, If you like drill, fine join the guards, but I don't like drill, I'm more of your field soldier type, I prefer field work rather than barrack work, but I think the sentries at St James seemed to have enjoyed themselves, there were stories of phone numbers slipped into their pockets in the dead of night, whether they had been able to do anything about them was another matter, there hadn't been too much free time during their stay in London"

Private Lawson Smith

"People come right up next to you, sometimes they speak to you, generally just say hello how are you and all that. The Policemen are quite nice, they come along and tell you how long you've got to do, it was always a one way conversation because sentries of course are not allowed to reply