Published: Thursday 7 March 2024
31 (Middlesex Yeomanry and Princess Louise's Kensington) Signal Squadron – a Unit bearing Civic Honours – will exercise its Freedom of the Royal Borough with a parade and march through Chelsea this Saturday (9 March) at 10.45am.
‘The Freedom’ is a signal honour, and the highest award that can be bestowed by the borough, marking an exceptional record of service and the contribution which a Unit makes to the defence of the realm, as well as its close ties with the local area. It accords the privilege, honour and distinction of marching through the streets on all ceremonial occasions with colours flying, bands playing and bayonets fixed.
The parade will take no more than 20 minutes and traffic may be heavier in the morning in the Royal Hospital, Sloane Square and King’s Road area.
The Squadron was delighted to accept this invitation from the Mayor to exercise this Civic Honour in celebration of 100 years of service of the Royal Corps of Signals.
31 (Middlesex Yeomanry and Princess Louise's Kensington) Signal Squadron can most recently trace its roots via 41 (Princess Louise’s Kensington) Signal Squadron; 31st (City of London) Signal Regiment (V) and 41 (Princess Louise's Kensington) Signal Regiment and, further back, via Princess Louise's Kensington (PLK) Regiment, to the Kensington Volunteers, a group of local volunteers formed in 1798.
The unit was first bestowed its Civic Honours by the Royal Borough of Kensington in 1959 and due to the subsequent reorganisation of the Territorial Army and the merger of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Metropolitan Borough of Chelsea, Civic Honours were granted in 1967 for the benefit of 31 (Greater London) Signals Regiment (Volunteers), another unit that the present day Squadron can trace its lineage back to.
The Squadron last exercised its Freedom in July 2009 in celebration of the centenary of the Presentation of Colours by HM King Edward VII to the 13th County of London Princess Louise’s Kensington Regiment.