XN000022-1975-04-28 — Page 9

ROYAL VISIT PRESS RELEASE

Monday, April 28, 1975

ROYAL HONG KONG REGIMENT (THE VOLUNTEERS)

To Mount Guard Each Day At Government House During Royal Visit

Men of the Royal Hong Kong Regiment (The Volunteers) will mount guard at Government House each day during the visit of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to Hong Kong next month.

The regiment will also provide a contingent of 36 as part of the

British Army's guard of honour which will march past the Royal couple

before the beginning of the procession in Nathan Road on the evening of

May 6.

The regiment numbers more than 700 volunteers and about 40 per-

manent staff. It is a light reconnaissance regiment, comprising five reconnaissance squadrons, a headquarters squadron, and a home guard squadron.

There is a junior leaders' squadron of 135 boys. The regiment is based on Hong Kong Island, with a squadron in Kowloon. It is administered

by the Hong Kong Government, but comes under the Commander British Forces

if called out.

Volunteer soldiering in Hong Kong began in 1854 when 99 civilians

volunteered to help bolster the defences at a time when marauding pirates

were still a hazard on the China coast, and the garrison had been reduced

because of the Crimean war.

/Since then,