Simviation Forum - Royal Air Force, Royal Marines, Royal Navy -

May 31^st, 2003 at 7:34am

Felix/FFDS Offline
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but British ARMY?

I know there has to be a (British) logic to the fact that the British Army is not "Royal" but I haven't been able to find out the histroy behind it. Can someone point me to where I can read up on it?

I can venture that "way back when" the land armies were raised and paid for by local lords, etc., and more "territorial" in nature. Since these forces were not the "King's" forces but rather were directly subordinate to the Duke, Baron, Earl, whatever, then the combined forces were the "British Army".

The Navy, on the other hand, was commissioned directly from the Royal Treasury ... and so forth.

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Reply #1 - May 31^st, 2003 at 10:44am

Hagar Offline
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I have often wondered the same thing. Your explanation seems as good as any. ???

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Reply #2 - May 31^st, 2003 at 10:56am

Craig. Offline
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because royal army doesnt sound as good:)

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Reply #3 - May 31^st, 2003 at 11:08am

Jake Derrick Offline
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I am a Royal Marine Cadet currently based on Whale island in Portsmouth.

1. The Royal Navy has the proword Royal becasue it is the senior service

2. The Royal Marines were given the title 'Royal' to mark King George the 3rd's birthday.

3. I don't know about the RAF!

And i agree Royal Army sounds crap! anyway there are regiments within the army who have the proword royal!

Hope that helps

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Reply #4 - May 31^st, 2003 at 11:28am

Hagar Offline
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I don't see how Royal Army sounds any worse than Royal Navy, Royal Air Force or whatever. ???

Jake, maybe you can explain how the RN came to be known as the the Senior Service. I understand it was formed under the name Navy Royal in 1509. This was not changed to Royal Navy until 1660. https://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/static/pages/3538.html I'm sure we had an army hundreds of years before then.

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Reply #5 - May 31^st, 2003 at 12:50pm

Jake Derrick Offline
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This is kinda hard to explain. As mentioned earlier in this topic, there was no British Army, by that i mean an army that stands for Britain together. There were more like little regiments here and there, but not under the same name or command, where as the Navy has always been under one command serving all of Britain as Brtiains navy. Do you get it? As i said it is hard to explain. Also the RN became known as the senior service, because it was the service that most of the royal family joined.

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Reply #6 - May 31^st, 2003 at 5:35pm

Woodlouse2002 Offline
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I think its because the army has regiments beginning with "royal" they don't bother with naming the army royal. If you think about it the Navy, Airforce and Marines don't have the word royal in their squadron and commando titles.

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Reply #7 - Jun 2^nd, 2003 at 7:11am

Felix/FFDS Offline
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In the end, the reason is a "little bit of everything"

Quote:

Dear Mr Rodriguez

Thank you for your enquiry. There is a long-standing tradition of opposition to standing armies in this country, which dates back at least to the seventeenth century. It was extremely difficult after the Restoration for Charles II to maintain any standing forces without arousing the suspicion that he would use them to impose an absolutist monarchy in the style of Louis XIV. In the circumstances, the addition of ‘Royal’ to the Army’s title would have been politically unwise, and would certainly have aroused Parliament’s hostility.

Why has the title not been added since that time? It may be, because the Army is essentially a collection of regiments, many of which already contain the word ‘Royal’ in their title, or have some sort of Royal connection, so that the Army has never felt the need for it.

There has never been a problem with 'Royal Navy' because the Navy has never been regarded as a potential instrument of oppression, and 'Royal Air Force' simply reflects the titles of its two components, the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service, which already had Royal in their titles.

I hope this helps in providing some suggestions for your query.

Regards

David Collens
National Army Museum

Felix/FFDS

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Reply #8 - Jun 2^nd, 2003 at 11:23am

pete Offline
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I refer to the British Navy as the 'british navy' - it defines what you are talking about. Like the 'US Navy', French Navy' etc .. - In my opinion the word 'royal' is outdated & irrelevant. I would guess that the word 'royal' is only used inside the UK -

So is that laughable thing of calling people Sir & Lord Grin

I would guess if you asked the average person in any country what the 'royal navy' was he/she wouldn't have any idea other than it was a division of some navy somewhere.

Think Global. It's the world we live in.

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Reply #9 - Jun 3^rd, 2003 at 11:44pm

Hogans_Alley Offline
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To the Royal Navy, Air Force, Marines and the British Army (Queens Guard, Royal Fusiliers, the Royal Gurkhas, etc)

BRAVO ZULU! Jolly good job in Iraq.

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