New military uniforms will still feature former monarch’s cypher
MILITARY personnel will carry on wearing the cypher of the late Queen Elizabeth on their uniforms for years to come, despite the King succeeding her as their Commander-in-chief.
All members of the Armed Forces on parade at the Cenotaph wore the initials of the late Queen, including the King himself and other members of the Royal family.
They will eventually wear the cypher of the King, which features his initials, his regnal number III and the Tudor Crown, but only when existing supplies of badges, buttons and insignia run out.
It means that service personnel will still be issued with new uniforms featuring the late Queen’s cypher, and others are likely to carry on wearing the familiar ER initials until their uniforms need replacing.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said that the switch to the King’s cypher would be a gradual one, with individual regiments and other military units introducing it in their own time.
The same was true when Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne in 1952, when uniforms featuring the cypher of her late father George VI carried on being issued until the stocks had all been used up.
The Armed Forces, like all public services, are financially stretched as the economy goes into reverse, and using up existing supplies means that money will not be wasted in throwing away items that have already been paid for.
More than 193,000 people serve in the services, many of whom have multi- ple uniforms, meaning millions of individual buttons, cap badges and other regalia would have to be replaced at huge cost if a switch had been ordered.
Having sworn allegiance to the Queen for 70 years during her recordbreaking reign, those who have served in her name are unlikely to feel any haste in removing the memory of her from their uniforms.
The King, who famously abhors waste, appears to be in no hurry to replace his late mother’s cypher on his own uniform. At the Cenotaph, the late Queen’s initials featured on the epaulettes of the overcoat that he wore as part of his Field Marshal’s uniform, and a spokesman for the King said that no decision had yet been taken on when changes to his uniforms would be made.
One possibility is that His Majesty will wait until after his coronation next May before changing his uniforms and those of other members of the Royal family.