On 28 March 2006 six Scottish infantry regiments — some of them older than the United Kingdom itself — ceased to exist as independent regiments and became battalions of a single new formation.
What happened
The Royal Regiment of Scotland was formed from:
- The Royal Scots (1633) → 1 SCOTS
- The Royal Highland Fusiliers → 2 SCOTS
- The Black Watch → 3 SCOTS
- The Highlanders (Seaforth, Gordons, Camerons) → 4 SCOTS
- The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders → 5 SCOTS
- The King's Own Scottish Borderers → merged into 1 SCOTS
Why
The official reasoning was manning. Single-battalion regiments were struggling to recruit, and the "arms plot" — rotating battalions between roles and postings every few years — was disruptive and expensive. A large multi-battalion regiment could move soldiers between battalions without moving them between regiments.
The unofficial reasoning, as widely argued at the time, was cost.
It was not popular
The Save the Scottish Regiments campaign gathered substantial public support. Veterans' associations opposed it. The Black Watch, fresh from Iraq, was a particular flashpoint.
The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were reduced further in 2013 — 5 SCOTS became Balaklava Company, a single company retaining the name. From a regiment with a Victoria Cross record to one company in seven years.
Genuine British Army Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders No1 No2 Dress Buttons 3
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What it means for what we sell
Everything issued to those six regiments before 2006 is now obsolete pattern. No more Black Watch cap badges are being made for issue. No more Royal Scots collar badges.
The Royal Regiment of Scotland now uses a single cap badge across all battalions, with the battalion identified by its Tactical Recognition Flash and hackle instead.
6 Scots Royal Regiment of Scotland RRS Grey Plume Feather Hackle - NEW
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British Army Issue Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Tartan TRF Patch NEW
It had happened before — twice
2006 was the third round, not the first. The Childers Reforms of 1881 paired existing numbered regiments into two-battalion county regiments, ending the old numbering system that soldiers had identified with for a century.
Then in 1968 the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders were reduced to a single company, prompting the "Save the Argylls" campaign that gathered over a million signatures — and won. The reduction was reversed.
That precedent is exactly why the 2006 campaigners believed they could win too, and part of why losing was felt so bitterly.
What actually changed on the uniform
- One cap badge replaced six.
- One tartan — Government 1A — replaced six setts.
- The hackle became the battalion identifier instead.
- Regimental titles survive as subtitles: 3 SCOTS is formally The Black Watch, 3rd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland.
That last point matters. The names were not erased, and the battalions guard their old identities fiercely.
The Argylls, again
In 2013 the Army reduced 5 SCOTS to Balaklava Company — a single company. The name commemorates the Thin Red Line at Balaklava in 1854, where the 93rd Highlanders stood two ranks deep against Russian cavalry rather than forming square, and held.
A regiment that produced that moment now exists as one company. Whatever the manning arithmetic said, it is not hard to see why people minded.
Why the insignia matters now
Every badge, TRF and button from those six regiments stopped being made in 2006. Not reduced — stopped. What exists is what exists, and much of it came off uniforms worn by people still living.
That is a different thing from a collectable that was made to be collected, and it is why we describe provenance as precisely as we can.
Six regiments, one new name, 2006
On 28 March 2006, the British Army amalgamated its six existing Scottish infantry regiments — the Royal Scots, the King's Own Scottish Borderers, the Royal Highland Fusiliers, the Black Watch, the Highlanders, and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders — into a single large regiment: the Royal Regiment of Scotland. Between them, those six units represented over 390 years of continuous service to the Crown, which is exactly why the merger wasn't a simple erasure.
Why it happened
The amalgamation was part of a much wider restructuring of the British Army's infantry in the mid-2000s, driven by defence reviews looking to move away from smaller, single-battalion regiments toward larger regiments built from several linked battalions. Scotland's regiments weren't singled out — English, Welsh and other regiments went through broadly similar large-scale mergers around the same time — but the Scottish case is one of the most visible because six historic, individually-named regiments became battalions of one.
Each one kept its own battalion
Rather than blending everything into one uniform identity, each predecessor regiment became its own battalion within the new structure, keeping its own battle honours, pipes and drums, and much of its distinct identity — hackles, tartan setts and other regimental details were retained battalion by battalion rather than standardised away. Shortly after, on 1 August 2006, the Royal Scots and King's Own Scottish Borderers battalions were further amalgamated into the 1st Battalion, Royal Scots Borderers — leaving five regular battalions on the roll.
Genuine Scottish regimental trews, older pre-Royal Regiment of Scotland pattern tartan.
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What's changed since 2006
The structure has continued to evolve rather than staying fixed at the 2006 settlement — further restructuring of the wider British Army infantry since then has affected battalion numbers across the regiment, as it has for most large regiments formed in the same era. The regimental cap badge, motto and identity of the Royal Regiment of Scotland as a whole have stayed consistent, even as the exact battalion structure underneath it has been reviewed more than once.
Why this matters for collectors and buyers
This is exactly why you'll find genuine surplus labelled with regiment names that technically don't recruit separately any more — pre-2006 Black Watch or Royal Scots kit is real, historically distinct, and generally the older pattern. Post-2006 Royal Regiment of Scotland kit is equally genuine, just from the newer combined structure. Neither is wrong; they're simply from either side of the same amalgamation, and worth knowing which you're actually holding if it matters for your collection or impression. Tartan pattern is usually the fastest tell — each old regiment carried its own distinct sett, and those didn't disappear just because the cap badge above them changed.