The Queen praised the Scots Guards for having "served with distinction" as she presented them with new colours.
More than 2,200 guests watched as the 1st Battalion and F Company Scots Guards were honoured by the Queen in the middle of a summer downpour in Buckingham Palace gardens.
She told the regiment, who were dressed in ceremonial red tunics and bearskins or service dress khaki: "In whatever role you serve, each one as vital as the other, I entrust to you these new colours in the sure knowledge that they will inspire you to achieve excellence in whatever you do and wherever you are, which your forebears in the Scots Guards have done for the past 375 years."
The Queen, who is their Colonel-in-Chief, last presented the Scots Guards with their colours during her Golden Jubilee year of 2002. These were later taken by the 1st Battalion on five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The colours - or regimental flags - are treasured by the regiment because they were originally used as rallying points on the battlefield to help troops avoid becoming disorientated by the fog of war.
The Queen said that the 1st Battalion is set to join the Army's new Strike Experimentation Group and will have to be "ready to deploy quickly and effectively in the interest of our country and that of our Allies".
She also praised F Company for its "invaluable contribution" in state ceremonial activities such as Trooping the Colour and the Changing of the Guard because they are "so admired by visitors". She said they are a "source of pleasure and joy to so many".
The Queen sent them good wishes on behalf of herself and the Duke of Edinburgh, who is the Senior Colonel but did not attend the ceremony.
She also sent similar warm greetings from the Duke of Kent, who attended the ceremony as their Colonel.
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