Monarch's Own
| Monarch's Own | |
| |
| Name: | Monarch's Own Regiment |
| Strength: | regiment |
| Commander: | GEN John Neitz |
| Status: | Active |
The Monarch's Own Regiment is the elite royal guard regiment of the Royal Manticoran Army (RMA). The regiment is commonly called either "Queen's Own" or "King's Own" depending on the gender of the reigning sovereign. During the time of the Honor Harrington stories, the reigning monarch was Queen Elizabeth III, so it was called the Queen's Own during this period.
In The Royal Manticoran Navy: The Official Honor Harrington Fan Association, Inc. (TRMN), membership in the Monarch's Own serves as an honor society for RMA members.
Canon history
The Monarch's Own was created with the coronation of King Roger I, when the Manticore and Sphinx Planetary Guards each "donated" a company and a half of their troops to form the core of a new battalion. Gryphon followed as soon as its population could support its own Planetary Guard. The whole unit was merged with the Army in 1665 PD.[1]
The Monarch's Own contributed forces to front-line combat within the Star Kingdom at wartime, usually deploying one of its three "planet battalions" to the frontline, leaving the other two to the normal duties. In addition, the Monarch's Own was the Army's primary ceremonial unit.[2]
Regimental Organization
In canon, the regiment is made up of four battalions, one for each of the three original planets of the Star Kingdom, plus a training battalion:
Chinati Ridge Raiders
Copper Walls Battalion
The Copper Walls Battalion was the Sphinxian unit, and is named after the Copper Walls mountain range on the planet Sphinx.[3] [4]
Falcons End Rangers
The Falcon's End Rangers represented the planet Gryphon and wore a shoulder patch with a griffin's head.[5]
Bordeaux Battalion
The Bordeaux Battalion was a battalion of the Monarch's Own.[6]
School Battalion
The School Battalion's functions are to provide for the regiment's own training requirements, and also to provide an elite OPFOR for the Army's (and Marines') training commands.[7]
Uniform
Monarch's Own uniforms have scarlet colored berets and facings, distinguishing them from the green berets and blue facings of other RMA units. Additionally, the beret badge has the crowned cypher of the reigning monarch, EIIIW in the case of Elizabeth III Winton.
The Monarch's Own in TRMN
In TRMN, the Monarch's Own (MO) serves as a way to honor RMA members for outstanding service to the organization. New appointments to the Monarch's Own are announced annually, and MO membership is capped at no more than 10% of the total RMA membership. The Royal Manticoran Navy equivalent is HMS Unconquered.
Additionally, deceased RMA members may be added to the rolls of the Monarch's own as way to remember an honor those who have died.[8] In this way, the Monarch's Own serves in a manner similar to HMS Valhalla in the Royal Manticoran Navy.
Soldiers who are inducted into the Monarch's Own have the option to wear the distinctive uniform of the regiment, including the scarlet beret.[9]
List of Commanding Officers, Monarch's Own
| Year | Name |
|---|---|
| 2023 | GEN TJ Allen |
| 2024 | COL John Cauffman[10] |
| 2025 | GEN John Neitz[11] |
List of TRMN Monarch's Own Members
Regimental Command Staff
- Commanding Officer: GEN John Neitz[11]
- Executive Officer: COL John Cauffman [11]
- NCOIC: SGTMAJRMA Brian Lee[12]
Members
- FM Beau Thacker RMA
- FM Robert Jackson RMA
- COL Jeff Webb RMA[13]
- MAJ Raul Trevino RMA[13]
- CPT Edward Covarrubias RMA [13]
- RSM Eric Stolle RMA[13]
- RSM Michael Tolleson RMA[12]
- VADM John Neitz RMN[12]
- Marshal Matthew Miller RMA[12]
- MAJ Michael Cyganiewicz RMA[14]
Posthumous Honorary Members
- FM Sir Kevin Horner, KDE, MC, CGM, MP
- PFC Carol Hayward
- 1LT Robert Anthony Rothenberg
- PSGT Andrew Covarrubias[15]
See Also
- The Monarch's Own unit makeup and nomination process
- Army Directive 2111-07: Monarch's Own Nominations
- Army Directive 2111-09: Composition of the Monarch's Own
External Links
References
- ↑ [Why the Queen's Own exists
- ↑ House of Steel, pp. 411-412
- ↑ "The mustachioed major at its head wore the scarlet facings of the Queen's Own Regiment and the shoulder flash of the Copper Walls Battalion, the component drawn from Honor's homeworld..." Field of Dishonor, Chapter 3
- ↑ "...an Army officer in the scarlet facings of the King's—no, the Queen's—Own Regiment. A tall man, with the well-muscled look of a heavy-worlder and the shoulder flash of the Copperwalls Battalion...The captain spoke with the clipped accent of the Ice Gia Settlement on Sphinx." Queen's Gambit from Worlds of Honor. 1999
- ↑ "The captain wore the griffin-headed shoulder patch of the Falcons End Rangers, the Griffin-recruited battalion of the Queen's Own." At All Costs, Chapter 7.
- ↑ "...Major Padraic Dover, was ... A native of Gryphon, he served in the Bordeaux Battalion of the King's Own Regiment. " Queen's Gambit from Worlds of Honor.
- ↑ Pearls of Weber: Why the Queen's Own exists
- ↑ "4th Battalion serves in a similar capacity to the HMS Valhalla for RMA personnel who become deceased in the line of duty or who the RMA wish to honor as permanent members of the QO." See Army Directive 2006-01
- ↑ Army Directive 2111-09: Composition of the Monarch's Own
- ↑ Army Directive 2312-01
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Army Directive 2412-01
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Army Directive 2212-02
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 Army Directive 1725-03
- ↑ Army Directive 2412-02
- ↑ Army Directive 1801-03