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Why is the British Army not called the Royal Army?

• Message 1.Μύ

  Posted by Elkstone (U3836042) on Sunday, 19th April 2009

  We have the Royal Navy, Royal Airforce, what is the reason for no Royal Army? Was it because the army was not loyal, ie fought against the crown a la Cromwell? The navy didnt overthrow a monarch did it?

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  Posted by LongWeekend (U3023428) on Sunday, 19th April 2009

  Elkstone
  
  "The navy didn't overthrow a monarch did it?"
  
  Oh yes, it did. Well, helped anyway. All but two of His Majesty's ships declared for Parliament at the start of the Civil War.
  
  As for the Army not being Royal, it is really a result of the fact that the Army had no legal status - the legal form was "Guards and Garrisons". I think the term "Army" wasn't used in statute until the C19th (but haven't checked, so it might have been earlier). So individual Regiments and Corps became Royal, but the Army never did. But the Royal Navy already was a legal entity, and the RAF, being formed from the Royal Flying Corps and the RNAS, could hardly not be.

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  Posted by MattJ18 (U13798409) on Monday, 20th April 2009

  I've always thought that it was to do with their origins:
  
  The Royal Navy was the invention of various monarchs (Alfred the Great was the first one, but in modern terms it was Henry VIII). The Royal Air Force was formed as a result of combining the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Navy Air Service. The RFC and RNAS were originally just units and so could have the 'royal' designation. The Army, on the other hand, was formed by Parliament at the end of the Civil War and contained units from both Royal and Parliamentary forces (e.g. the grenadiers guards were royal, the coldstreamers were parliamentary).

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  Posted by MB (U177470) on Monday, 20th April 2009

  Like most things in the UK it is mainly tradition because it always been that way.
  
  Wikipedia has this
  
  
  In contrast to the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Air Force, the British Army does not include "Royal" in its title. Primarily this is because historically the British Army is the Army of Parliament and not the Crown. This position was confirmed by the Bill of Rights 1689 requiring Parliamentary Authority to maintain a standing army in peacetime. Nevertheless, many of its constituent Regiments and Corps are styled Royal and have members of the Royal Family occupying senior positions within some regiments.
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  Posted by Stoggler (U1647829) on Monday, 20th April 2009

  The Royal Navy was the invention of various monarchs (Alfred the Great was the first oneΜύ
  
  Alfred's forming of a navy of ships to counter the threat of Norse invasions is not a founding of the Royal Navy, it was expedient military strategy for the time. This proto-Navy did not last and there is no continual line that can be drawn from the late 9th century down to Henry VIII to the modern Royal Navy.

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  Posted by RSS_643_IKWIG (U13662597) on Monday, 20th April 2009

  Monday. 20th April, 2009. 11:57BST
  Re. 'Elkstone'
  NB. A word to the wise; when discussing the 'British Army': try to understand from this present condition, the arguements surrounding the so called 'Scottish Wars' which preceeded the 'English Civil War'. The 'New Model' army afterall became the Guard's Regiment named after the town of Coldstream on the English / Scottish Border between Bewick - upon - Tweed and Edinburgh. As for the other towns of Kelso, Selkirk and Jedburgh and indeed the hamlet of WALL (itself); within a day's march of Coldstream: as far as I understand they are historically part of the HIGHLANDS but not the UPLANDS. As for the CLAN history of the HIGHLANDS and thus of James I; as the 'Head of State'; of a putative 'British State' or 'British Union of Scotland, England and Wales' as described and embodied in his alto ego James VI of Scotland: perhaps you should note that his nephew was Francis Oliver Butterfield. Count Newstead, The Earl of Leicester. BARON. Afterall, who fought in the 'Scottish Wars' and was awarded a 'Dukedom' named after the village of Cromwell on the Great North Road or present day A1 but 'Oliver' himself...
  ps. English children; as born in the 1960's almost always had one copy of the Ladybird Book ;'Oliver Cromwell'; to read later and understood that 'Charles' and 'Oliver' were cousins: whether they liked each other or not...

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  Posted by Stoggler (U1647829) on Monday, 20th April 2009

  RSS
  
  Not entirely sure that answers the question in the OP. Would you be able to rephrase (without the "Re" and the "NB" which are used incorrectly)?

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  Posted by Spruggles (U13892773) on Monday, 20th April 2009

  Hello,
  Could it be that Britain had no real need for a standing army as opposed to a navy? Up until the Great War most of our land battles were fought either with foreign mercenaries or they were engaged in 'police actions'. The navy was given the Royal assent because they were seen as the true defenders of these islands and the air force received theirs when they broke away from the army to form the Royal Flying Corps and again in 1918 when it became the Royal Air Force. Or perhaps our Sovereigns distrusted the 'brown jobs'. Conspiracy? ... discuss.

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