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# Royal Irish Regiment

##

Last modified: 2026-07-18 by rob raeside
Keywords: royal irish regiment | harp |
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image by Pete Loeser, 3 February 2022
Based on this photo.

On this page:

- Introduction: The Royal Irish Regiment
- Description of the Royal Irish Regiment HQ Camp Flag
- Royal Irish Regiment Flags - Variants
- Royal Irish Rangers

See also:

- Army Regimental Flags And Colours
- United Kingdom Army Regimental and Unit Flags
- Ministry of Defence and Army
- United Kingdom

## Introduction: The Royal Irish Regiment

The Royal Irish Regiment is an infantry regiment founded in 1992 from two older existing Army units: the Royal Irish Rangers and the Ulster Defence Regiment. Their oldest predecessor was the 27th Regiment of Foot first raised in June 1689 to fight in the Williamite War in Ireland. Their lineage includes the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, the Royal Irish Rifles and Princess Victoria's Royal Irish Fusiliers. The motto of the regiment is Faugh A Ballagh (Clear the Way). The Regimental Headquarters is the Palace Barracks in County Down, Northern Ireland.
Pete Loeser, 3 February 2022

## Description of the Royal Irish Regiment HQ Camp Flag

The most common commercially manufactured variant seems to be a diagonal banded flag of dark green and black with the silver RIR badge/crest of a crowned harp centered on it. The badge can be seen on the official Royal Irish Regiment website. It's a pity that they don't keep a history of the camp flags used by the regiment over the years. A search of the website doesn't come up with any information on the history of either their badges/crest/arms or their flags and colours. The website seems more directed at recruitment than history.
Pete Loeser, 3 February 2022

## Royal Irish Regiment Flags - Variants

image by Eugene Ipavec

On July 1, 1992, the Royal Irish Rangers, the last Irish Infantry Regiment of the line, merged with The Ulster Defence Regiment to form The Royal Irish Regiment. Their flag is a horizontally banded flag of dark green, red, yellow, blue and dark green with the badge - a crowned harp-centered, in dark, silvery gray. The proportions look to me to be 3:5, consistent with the flag-graphic on the official site. I'm not altogether sure if the harp in the badge on the flag has a wreath or not.
Eugene Ipavec, 2 April 2005

image by Pete Loeser, 3 February 2022
Based on this photo.

This is another commercially manufactured variant of the Royal Irish Regiment HQ Camp Flag I was able to locate. That said, the flags flown by regiments and their component sub-units are not designed or provided for by the Army Quartermaster. Each individual regiment gets them from commercial suppliers. The emblem is usually based on the regimental cap badge or emblem. However because they are bought from commercial suppliers, there are inevitably some changes in style or details over time.
Pete Loeser, 3 February 2022

## Royal Irish Rangers

image located by William Garrison, 6 June 2026

Source: https://bid.candtauctions.co.uk/lot-details/index/catalog/226/lot/78751/Royal-Irish-Rangers-Regimental-Flag
Royal Irish Rangers regimental flag with the regimental badge to the centre; Duck cotton canvas. Per Wikipedia: "The Royal Irish Rangers (27th (Inniskilling), 83rd and 87th) was a regular light infantry regiment of the British Army with a relatively short existence, formed in 1968 and later merged with the Ulster Defence Regiment in 1992 to form the Royal Irish Regiment." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Irish_Rangers
William Garrison, 6 June 2026