Fantastic regiment, full of bravery and a colourful history. It's a pity about the derogatory comments and remarks on here spoiling what is a great video.
Respect for all soldiers. They are willing to defend those who cannot defend themselves. Everyone just wants peace and freedom. Who are you going to call on when that is threatened?
There is no difference whatever between Northern Irish, Welsh, Scottish or English or British Gurkha regiments, . They are paid the same, train the same and fight the same. Except the Irish lads sing much better or perhaps on a parr with the Welsh: Bless em all!
Bunch of balloon heads arguing on here. They are called Royal Irish because the lads are Irish. Just as lads from Scotland are Scottish, Wales are Welsh and England are English. They are all British subjects hence the Royal title for each particular Regiment. All of us should be proud to be Irish. AND proud to be British...unless your a chuckie that is!
They aren't marching with rifles because it's a bureaucratic pain in the ass to issue weapons to the entire battalion just to march down the road. Note that the color guard (In Number 1 Dress) carry L85s with bayonets fixed (thereby exercising the traditional "freedom of the town"). If you look at any of the other homecoming parade videos (42 Command, 2 Parachute Regiment, 4 Rifles) you'll see that none of those units are fully armed either. There are Englishmen and Scots in the Royal Irish too
Historically, armed forces were not welcome in towns; 18th century England and Ireland had no police and military units were used to suppress rioting, usually by killing unruly locals. Soldiers were also generally very uncouth, low characters. For a regiment, Freedom of a town or city granted them the right to parade through town with drums, colors, bayonets fixed etc. generally making a nuisance of themselves as a sign of trust and appreciation from the town. This also aided with recruitment.
Northern Ireland is still a part of the isle of Ireland... It is the northern part of Ireland in fact (Mind blown, I know), and so while Northern Ireland may remain a part of the United Kingdom, it doesn't make its inhabitants any less Irish than those Irishmen and women residing in the South. Renaming the regiment would require more effort than it would be worth, and "the Royal Northern Irish Regiment" is a bit of a mouthful and doesn't have quite the same ring to it.
When talking about the prospect of a united Ireland it's completely fine to consider the Northern Irish, Irish, but when discussing this particular subject, it isn't?
Firstly your missing the point. There is no "South". The "South" you speak of is called IRELAND. To quote your queens in Dublin, "Ireland and Northern Ireland". Thats the view of every country on the planet. Please apply your Queen's logic. Therefore the term Irish for any official purpose is reserved for Ireland. We're dealing with military here, so mouthfuls are better than political insulting and incorrect titles.
