The Green Howards have fought all over the world and won many battle honours. As doubts emerge over the unit’s future, Joe Willis looks back at its illustrious past

THE regiment that would become known as The Green Howards was first founded in 1688.

Its first colonel was Francis Luttrell, of Somerset, who raised a force to support Prince William of Orange.

The regiment soon saw service, fighting at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland to defeat the Roman Catholic James II.

It was in 1744 that the regiment first became known as The Green Howards.

At that time, the regimental colonel was General Charles Howard, whose father built Castle Howard, near York.

By chance, the regiment was fighting alongside another regiment, also commanded by a Howard.

To avoid confusion on the battlefield, the regiments were referred to by the colour of the facings on their tunics.

One became known as The Green Howards and the other the Buffs.

The regiment first became associated with the North Riding of Yorkshire in 1782 when it was granted the title of 19th First York North Riding Regiment.

But it was not until 1873 that Richmond, in North Yorkshire, became the regiment’s home town.

In 1875, the regiment was granted the title of The Princess of Wales’s Own.

In 1881, the name changed once more, when it became known as The Princess of Wales’s Own Yorkshire Regiment.

Following the South African War, the word Alexandra was added.

Finally, in 1920 the title of the regiment became The Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales’s Own Yorkshire Regiment).

The name lasted until 2006, when it was amalgamated into a new Yorkshire Regiment.

The unit, now a battalion, was allowed to keep some of its former name, now being called the 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment (Green Howards).

The regiment’s soldiers have fought in many major conflicts. During the First World War, 24 battalions of the regiment were raised with a total of 65,000 soldiers serving in the ranks.

Of these, more than 7,500 lost their lives. During the Second World War, the regiment fought in Norway, the Western desert, Sicily, Italy, Burma, France, Holland and Germany.

Two battalions took part in the D-Day landings in 1944.

Since then, it has served in Norway, Italy, Burma, France, Holland and Sicily, and taken part in the Falklands War, both Gulf wars, and conflicts in Bosnia and Kosovo.

Last year, it served in Afghanistan and is due to return in September.

Eighteen Green Howards soldiers have been awarded the Victoria Cross.

They include Sergeant Major Stan Hollis, the only man to win the VC on D-Day, and Donald Bell, the only English professional footballer to have received the medal.