Our Allied Regiment: The Royal Welsh

Since 1928, The Ontarios have maintained a strong friendship and alliance with our allied British regiment, the Royal Welsh.

The Welch Regiment (41st of Foot) was amalgamated with the South Wales Borderers (24th of Foot) to form The Royal Regiment Of Wales (RRW) in 1969. In 2006, under a further reorganization of the British Army, the RRW was amalgamated with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers to form the Royal Welsh Regiment (RWR).

Several exchange visits have taken place over the years. In 1969, officers and men of the Ontarios performed grounds keeping duties on the occasion of the Welsh’s amalgamation ceremony and parade held at historic Cardiff Castle. In September 1983, a small group of Welsh officers and soldiers were on parade in Oshawa on the occasion of the Ontarios’ change of command.

In July 1989, the Ontarios sent a 35 man guard to Wales for the RRW’s Tercentenary parade at Cardiff Castle. HRH Charles, Prince of Wales, the Colonel-in-Chief of the Welsh, inspected the Regiment. The Welsh reciprocated in 1991 by providing a guard for a parade at Iroquois Park in Whitby to mark the Ontarios’ 125^th anniversary.

Most recently, in September 2004, the Welsh band toured many of its former battle sites and encampments throughout Ontario including Niagara and Kingston. The band also visited Oshawa to perform at the Ontarios’ annual Parkwood Promenade, held at the home of Colonel R.S. McLaughlin, our regiment's former patron and longest-serving Honorary Colonel.