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Royal Review of 1st Battalion The Gloucestershire Regiment, Berlin 27th May 1987: Her Majesty The Queen, accompanied by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and Major-General PG Brooking MBE, British Commandant and General Officer Commanding Berlin (British Sector), on the Maifeld, Berlin, 27th May 1987. During the “Cold War”, Germany was divided between the (western) Federal Republic of Germany and the (eastern) socialist state of the German Democratic Republic. Berlin was an enclave within East Germany. The British Army maintained an infantry brigade in the British sector of Berlin under the Allies’ Potsdam Agreement, together with forces maintained by France and The United States. The Berlin garrison, amounting to some 3,000 soldiers, were not part of the troops committed to NATO. HM The Queen, accompanied by HRH The Prince Philip, paid a visit to Berlin in May 1987 and took the salute at the Queen’s Birthday Parade. Among the many guests were Soviet Russian officers. Besides ‘The Glorious Glosters’, the other soldiers on the parade were from 1st Bn The King’s Own Scottish Borderers, 1st Bn The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment), and the Chieftain tanks of the Berlin armoured squadron manned by the 14th/20th King’s Hussars. On the grey horse is the Crown Equerry, Lt Col Sir John Miller KCVO DSO MC, Welsh Guards. Lt Col APA Arengo-Jones leads the march-past of the battalion, followed by Major Stephen Oxlade, the second-in command. I was accommodated with “The Glosters” at Dempsey Barracks, Berlin. General Brooking invited me into his office and discussed the plan of how to tackle this picture. The whole project was nearly jeopardised when officers (who shall remain nameless) of another regiment sharing the barracks took the artist out on the town the previous evening. After tumbling into bed at 6am I managed to catch an hour’s sleep before starting the day of the Royal Review. Medium: Oil on Canvas Printed image size(s): B2 only (58 x 38 cm) Owner: 1st Battalion The Rifles Price(s): £75 |