THE Duchess of Cornwall welcomed back from Estonia 5th Battalion The Rifles at their home in Bulford, on Friday in her capacity as Colonel-in-Chief of The Rifles.
At a small reception held outside, she presented five medals for long service and good conduct before going on to meet Riflemen and officers to talk about the demands of their recent deployment to Estonia.
The Duchess was also keen to meet the wives and families of those serving and learn of the challenges that they have faced during the Battalion’s most recent deployment.
Her Royal Highness said: “It is a huge pleasure for me to come back to Bulford which I know pretty well from my role a Royal Colonel of 4 Rifles.
"It is particularly nice to come back and meet you all for the first time and really to thank you for all you have been doing, especially your tour of Estonia which I know was very challenging.
"I also wanted to particularly thank all of your families and partners for literally keeping the home fires burning whilst you were away and also to the Rear Party for doing such a fantastic job in keeping morale up.
"I would like to say how proud I am to be your Colonel-in-Chief and I hope this is the first of many visits.”
Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Jim Hadfield added: “It has been an extremely busy year for your 5th Battalion what with the preparation and deployment to Estonia.
"This gives me the perfect opportunity to publicly say thank you to everybody here and all those members of the Battalion and their families who are not here for all that they have done.
"It means a huge amount to us for you to visit your regiment, it has been an absolute honour to have you with us today.”
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