Royal Welsh Troops Mark St David’s Day At Tidworth

Soldiers from The 1st Battalion, The Royal Welsh have commemorated St David’s Day at Lucknow Barracks.

Personnel paraded at their Tidworth base to honour the Patron Saint of Wales.

The ceremony was attended by the French Defence Attaché, who presented leeks to members of the battalion.

Only half of 1st Battalion, which operates as the Lead Armoured Infantry task force in the Army, were on parade on Friday, with a number deployed to training in west Wales.

However, troops not able to be at Lucknow Barracks still marked the occasion with their own parade.

During the ceremony at Tidworth, a 97-year-old veteran was awarded the highest French honour: the Legion D'Honneur.

St David's Day falls on March 1, the same date of St David's death in 589 AD.

It has been regularly marked since the canonisation of David in the 12th century, but it is not a national holiday in the UK.

Festivities include wearing daffodils and leeks, as well as eating traditional Welsh food.

This year, the occasion also marks the centenary of the Croix de Guerre, a French military decoration awarded to the antecedent regiment, the 7th Battalion South Wales Borderers for action during their 1917-18 Salonica campaign.