Colours

Military Colours have been in use for many centuries and from the outset fulfilled two practical needs. First, they were rallying point in battle and second, a mark of distinction between clans. Early man fixed his family badge to a pole, while medieval knight placed armourial bearings an their banners. As army adopted a system of regiments at the beginning of the 17th century, each company was allowed a colour. Since 1751, regiments have been limited to a Regimental Colour and a Sovereign's Colour.

Before colours are taken into use they are consecrated during a ceremony that was standardized in 1867. This is a tradition that dates from the sacred standards of the Maccabees and the legions of Rome. Pope Alexander II consecrated the banner carried by Willam The Conqueror. The reverence shown to the Colours during their active life assures them of a sacred resting-place upon retirement, with due regards for their historic associations.

The old Colours will be laid in St. Mathias Church in Westmount, where they will remain, along side the previous retired colours

The Royal Montreal Regiment has the distinction of receiving three sets of Colours. In 1919, the first occasion was unique in the annals of British and Canadian history. This was the first time that a Regiment had been presented with Colours on foreign soil at the end of a victorious campaign, it was at Unter Eschbach, Germany, on January 4th, 1919 that H.R.H. Prince Arthur of Connaught presented the Regiment with its first set of Colours

Another set of Colours was to have been presented to The Regiment in 1939. This ceremony was postponed until the cessation of hostility. It’s was at Amersfoort, Holland, that General H.D.G. Crerar presented the second set of Colours on July 10th, 1945. These however, were not the Colours that the City of Westmount had planned to give. The original set was destroyed by enemy bombing in London and it was a replacement set that The RMR received on foreign liberated soil. To mark the celebration of the regiment's fiftieth anniversary, his Excellency, the late Governor General Georges P. Vanier presented the third set of new colours to the Regiment on September 20th, 1964. The ceremony took place in Westmount Park. The same site is again being used to receive the present Queen's Representative, his Excellency the Governor General, the Honourable Roland Mitchener. Who has presented a new Canadian Queens Colours.

Essentially the Queen's (or Sovereign's) Colour is The Regiment's badge centered on the National Flag. The Regiment's present flag thus uses the Union Flag (or Union Jack) as a base. The Royal Montreal Regiment received the new Queen's Colour. The Regiment's badge centered in Canada's Maple Leaf Flag on November 9th, 1967

The Receiving of the first set of the Colours in Unter Eschbach in Germany on January 4th, 1919 by H.R.H. Prince Arthur