Post 1998 Royal Band (Royal Marines Band Portsmouth) Shoulder Title Badge
RM Band Portsmouth, Hampshire red on dark blue Queen Elizabeth's Crown embroidered cloth patch. Removed from musician's tunic. GC.
In 1992 the band was opened to women when the Royal Navy began to fully integrate women (who were then members of a separate branch) into the service. In April 1996, the School of Music was moved to Portsmouth dockyard when the Deal Barracks were closed. It was initially housed at the former Royal Naval Detention Quarters — the cells were converted to individual practice rooms.
Band of HM Royal Marines HMS Collingwood were present on the Isle of Man for the Tynwald Day ceremony on Monday 6 July 2015.
The Bands of HM Royal Marines participate in various annual events such as the Royal British Legion's Festival of Remembrance, the Remembrance Day Service at the Cenotaph, the Lord Mayor's Show as well as accompanying Royal Navy and Royal Marines contingents at guard mounting duties in London.
Furthermore, the Massed Bands, numbering some two hundred musicians from normally at least three Royal Marines bands, perform their Beating Retreat ceremony every two years at London's Horse Guards Parade in celebration of the birthday of their Captain General (currently Charles III). Because of its popularity, it is generally over three nights. The most recent events were in June 2012 in honour of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, in June 2014 in honour of the RM's 350 years of service to the nation and also the first to feature a guard of honour company from 40 Commando Brigade and bands from the United States Marine Corps and the Netherlands Marine Corps, and in June 2016, also marking the 90th birthday of HM the Queen and the first to be streamed live on Facebook. The latest event was slated for a May 2018 date, marking the 65th anniversary of the 1953 Coronation of HM the Queen and will be followed by another in 2022, marking the milestone 70th anniversary since the assumption to the throne of HM the Queen and the centennial of the modern Royal Marines (due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 event was cancelled).
Another event hosted by the Royal Marines Band Service is the Mountbatten Festival of Music, named after former Life Colonel Commandant Royal Marines Admiral of the Fleet The Earl Mountbatten of Burma, which takes place every year in the Royal Albert Hall.
Code: 863
7.00 GBP