Why not 'Royal Army'?

Just wondering why it is the RN,RAF,RM etc. but the British Army?
I thought it was to do with the army splitting during the cvil war but I'm not sure?

Reply 1

Steve Stifler

Pinched from another site:

"The Royal Navy are the senior service as they were the first to receive Royal recognition as an armed service of the Crown. The Royal Air Force were formed by Royal Charter in 1918.

The British Army is historically a collection of militias raised at the behest of the Monarch. Some regiments enjoy Royal patronage, others such as the Int Corps don't.

When the Monarch wished to raise an army he would do so by endowing a stipend to a local nobleman to raise a regiment. The nobleman would be the Colonel of the Regiment (hence that tradition of the senior officer commanding the regiment or division, or member of the Royal Family being the "Colonel" of the Regiment) and would determine its uniform, and promote its NCOs and select its officers from the sons of other notable families within the region. On raising a Regiment an oath of allegience would be sworn and a toast drunk. The army are considered "loyal" not "Royal" in that sense.

As we maintain the regimental system it is fitting that we are not the Royal Army, rather the British Army loyal to the Crown."

"More accurately the RAF and RN have a Royal Charter as a whole, whereas the army does not. Regiments have Charters, but not the army as a military branch of service."

Reply 2

cattericksmiler

Since within the Army they have different corps and regiments to which some are conferred the monarchs approval by the use of the word Royal!!! There is only one RN, one RAF, one RM, but there are many different regiments and corps which make up the british army!!!

Same with the cadet forces, why have the Sea Cadet Corps, the Air Training Corps and the Army Cadet Force??

Since the Army is special!!!

Smiler :smile:

Reply 3

kurst

Lol, what the other guys have said is completely true.

It's due to the split regimental nature of the Army which is like several armed forces in one e.g Royal Logistic Corps, Royal Engineers etc. It's similar to the RM being part of the RN