Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall arrives at 1st Battalion The Rifles Regiment Headquarters in Chepstow.
In her first engagement since assuming the role of Colonel-in-Chief of The Rifles in July Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall visited 1st Battalion The Rifles Regiment at their barracks in Chepstow.
Her arrival at Beachley Barracks was greeted with a Royal Fanfare from The Band and Bugles of the Rifles, before Lieutenant Colonel Mark Shercliff, Commanding Officer of the Battalion provided Her Royal Highness with a private briefing that encapsulated the Battalion’s activities since return-ing from an Operational Deployment in Afghanistan in December last year through to the support they provided to the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic as part of the military Covid Support Force.
HRH then had the opportunity to meet with Riflemen who had recently completed their initial training course at the Infantry Training Centre in Catterick and were currently undertaking further training at The Rifles Training Team, who are based with 1 RIFLES, before they go on to join their respective Battalions. Here The Duchess was able to speak with the Riflemen, she presenting Ri-fleman Kaminski with the Rifles Coin, in a socially distanced manner, for being chosen as the best Rifleman from the training course.
A short reception then followed in the Battalion’s memorial garden where HRH met with Riflemen and their families.
Commenting after the visit Lieutenant Colonel Shercliff said:
“It has been an honour for the Battalion to host Her Royal Highness on her first engagement as our Colonel-in-Chief. Her visit comes after several months of battalion activity supporting the civil au-thorities and the NHS in fighting Coronavirus through the deployment of our Mobile Testing Units, ambulance drivers and temporary field hospital builders.
Today has been an excellent opportunity for us to inform our Colonel-in-Chief of our recent ex-ploits which has included our return from an operational tour of Afghanistan late last year, and the extended deployment of a company to the Falkland Islands.”