Page 59 - 103RA 2018-20

Royal Gun salute for HRH the Prince of Wales
Respect - the original reason behind gun salutes. When visiting foreign ports, British ships would fire their cannons out to sea until the ammunition was spent to show they had no hostile intentions. By the 1730’s it became mandatory to salute the Royal family and so certain anniversaries were acknowledged by the Royal Navy firing a
21-gun salute, a tradition that has stayed with us to this day.
Today there are at least seven Royal Gun salutes fired each year to mark occasions such as Accession Day, the Queen’s Birthday and the Opening of Parliament. For basic salutes 21 rounds are fired (however this can differ depending on the location and occasion), they are usually fired at midday and never on a Sunday.
14th November 2019 saw the 71st
birthday of The Prince of Wales. He holds
the highest rank in all three military services
– that of Field Marshall, Admiral of the Fleet
and Marshall of the Royal Air Force, and
so it was quite befitting that gun salutes were fired in 13 locations across the UK and overseas to celebrate the day.
A salute has always taken place in Cardiff, but in 2019 103 Regiment Royal Artillery were invited to take part in the formalities in the grounds of Caernarfon Castle. Towering above the banks of the Menai Strait, Caernarfon Castle was
the birthplace of the first English Prince of Wales, the future King Edward II, in 1284. This very same castle is where Prince Charles himself was invested by the Queen as The Prince of Wales in July 1969.
The day of our Royal Salute finally arrived after much rehearsing. Crowds gathered accompa- nied by honoured guests, even Fusilier Llywelyn - the Regimental Goat of 1st Battalion the Royal Welsh - turned up to watch as the guns fired across the Strait. The skies were bright although the gusts of wind were extremely unruly, so much so that even Colonel Nick Lock OBE, Deputy Commander 160th (Welsh) Brigade was worried his cap may be swept off his head
and into the waters below.
32 personnel from 103 Regiment RA were
present, meaning we had the capability to fire three L118 Light Guns. Major John Young and Captain Graham Stephenson oversaw the salute with Staff Sergeant
Lee Hamlett, Sergeant Alicia Hussain and myself as the Detachment Commanders. Fortunately for all, the day was a huge success with everything happening as it should and no one losing a cap. The guns fired their salute and were towed away to the beat of the Band.
32 personnel from 103 Regiment were present, meaning we had the capability to fire three L118 Light Guns