THE Duke of Gloucester, Royal Colonel 6th Battalion The Rifles paid a visit to the unit on Dartmoor during its annual deployment exercise on Tuesday (September 26).

His Royal Highness was welcomed to Okehampton Camp by the commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Jon Penhale, on his first visit in five years to the battalion.

He joined the unit via a challenging walk across the tors of the Dartmoor Training Area where he observed the 80 strong company carry out platoon attacks with overhead live machine gun fire.

Lt Col Jon Penhale said: ‘Always a pleasure and an honour to have our Royal Colonel visit, especially during the middle of our main training event this year.

‘It provides an excellent opportunity to explain and illustrate what the battalion has achieved over the five years, and how the role and utility of the Army Reserve has changed under the future Reserves Programme 2020.’

The Duke met a cross section of the reservists on their annual training camp as well as soldiers from the Georgian Armed Forces exercising with 6 Rifles, part of Defence Engagement, building Britain’s relationship with other countries.

Lt Ilia Kristesiashvili serving with the Georgian 12 Light Infantry Battalion said: ‘It was a privilege for me as a guest here to meet HRH, it ís a big thing for me and for my country, it is a huge honour.’

Picture by James Bird.