The Queen’s Royal Hussars (The Queen’s Own and Royal Irish)

Present in the Quadrangle.

Importance to the Duke: The regiment’s ties with the Duke began in 1953 when he was appointed Colonel-in-chief of the 8th King’s Royal Irish Hussars, one of the regiment’s antecedents. He remained the Colonelin-chief of the regiment from 1953 until his death, apart from the years 1993-2002 when he fulfilled the role of Deputy Colonel-in-chief under The Queen Mother. He also visited the regiment on operations in Iraq.

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AMATEUR cricketers are set to defy a call by the England and Wales Cricket Board to halt matches during the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral as they say playing on would celebrate the Duke’s love of the sport.

Club players said the idea to hold an 80-minute break over the 3pm ceremony was “out of touch” after it was suggested by cricket’s governing body.

As a mark of respect, all County Championship matches will pause between 2.50pm and 4.10pm today during the funeral of the Duke, who twice served as chairman of the Marylebone Cricket Club at Lord’s. The Duke was a keen cricketer himself and was also a patron of the Lord’s Taverners charity.

Many local cricket administrators say the long break in play is inappropriate given that clubhouses and dressing rooms are closed due to Covid restrictions.

The Shropshire County Cricket League has asked its teams to play on after a two-minute silence for the Duke.

It said: “Whilst acknowledging that players and club officials will want to appropriately mark the passing of His Royal Highness at all our Premier Division games with a period of silence at a designated time, the executive officers believe that under current Covid regulations, it is impractical for players at the recreational level of the game to be asked to sit around for an hour with no access to clubhouses or changing rooms, unlike those in the professional game.

“They therefore ask all Premier Division clubs to celebrate Prince Philip’s life and his love of our great game by playing on in his name, and every ground to hold a period of two minutes’ silence at 3pm on Saturday to remember him.”

Other clubs have pledged to hold a minute’s silence before the match instead of a break in play.

Officials at Aylsham St Giles Cricket Club in Norfolk said: “England and Wales Cricket Board, how out of touch with club cricket can you be?

“What is to be gained by club cricketers sitting outside their closed clubhouses, gazing into the middle distance for an hour?”