The Royal Irish Regiment: The Caubeen, the Hackle and the Harp

October 31, 2026

The Royal Irish Regiment is immediately identifiable on parade because of its headdress. Where the rest of the British infantry wears a beret, the Royal Irish wears a caubeen — a distinctive Irish bonnet, worn with a hackle, and unlike anything else in the Army.

The caubeen

The caubeen is a broad, soft bonnet of Irish origin, pulled down on one side, with the badge worn at the front and a hackle rising from it. It sits somewhere between a beret and a Tam o' Shanter in construction and looks like neither.

For a collector it is one of the most distinctive pieces of British Army headwear there is, and one of the most frequently misdescribed — sellers who have not seen one before tend to list it as a beret or a bonnet.

The hackle

The plume worn in the caubeen works the same way hackles do elsewhere in the Army: it is a regimental identifier, and its colour is fixed by tradition rather than chosen. As with any hackle, it mounts behind the badge through the same fitting, and it should never be given a hole of its own.

Hackles crush and fade, and a good one with strong colour and an uncrushed plume is worth noticeably more than a tired example.

The harp

Irish military heraldry is built around the harp, and it appears throughout Irish regimental insignia in various forms, usually crowned. It is one of the most recognisable devices in British military badges and one of the oldest national symbols in use anywhere.

Learning to distinguish the different harp treatments is the key to sorting Irish military insignia, because a great many Irish units used a harp and the differences are in the detail around it.

A complicated history, handled plainly

Irish regimental history is more tangled than most, for reasons that are historical and political rather than military. Regiments were raised, disbanded, amalgamated and reorganised through a period of considerable upheaval, and the lineages reflect that.

The Royal Irish Regiment in its present form dates from 1992. Behind it sit earlier Irish regiments and formations with their own histories, and researching Irish military material means engaging with that background rather than around it.

For a collector the practical point is simply that dates matter more than usual here, and that assuming continuity between similarly named units is the main way people go wrong.

Collecting Irish military material

Caubeens are distinctive and worth acquiring if you are building Irish regimental material — nothing else represents the regiment so immediately.
Harp variants are the identification key. Look at the harp itself, the crown above it, and what surrounds it.
Hackle condition matters and cannot be restored once faded or crushed.
Check dates carefully against the specific unit, given how many similarly named Irish units have existed.

Looking after a caubeen

It is wool, it is soft, and it holds its shape by being worn rather than by any internal structure. That means it needs the same treatment as a beret and then some:

Shape it on the head, wet, and let it dry there. There is no other reliable method.
Never dry it with heat. Wool shrinks unevenly and a distorted caubeen cannot be recovered.
Store it supported, not crushed flat under other items.
Remove the hackle before storage if the caubeen has to be packed, because the plume takes a permanent bend.

Irish military heraldry more broadly

The harp is the anchor, but Irish military insignia uses a wider vocabulary worth recognising:

The shamrock, used across Irish units and appearing on badges, buttons and informal insignia.
Saint Patrick's cross, in various treatments.
The crowned harp specifically, which is the standard British-service treatment and distinguishes it from other harp devices.
Regimental animals and local devices particular to individual units.

Buying Irish material

Establish the unit and the date first. Similar names across different periods and different organisations are the main source of error.
Caubeens are scarce relative to berets and worth acquiring when they appear.
Hackles fade. Colour strength is most of the value.
Association and veterans' material is plentiful and often more affordable than service items, while telling much the same story.