The Blue Hackle

In 1939 the War Office ordered that the service dress of the highland regiments would be the universal battle dress. In effect the kilt was abolished as the uniform of a highland soldier in battle. This caused much resentment amongst highland regiments. The CO of the First Battalion, Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders, was determined that with the kilt gone, his unit should still be distinctively dressed.  To do so, he ordered the white hackle normally worn with the tropical helmet to be worn on the Balmoral. King George V inspected the battalion on 5 Dec 1939.  The Camerons were paraded in kilted order for their Col in Chief, who was notably impressed.  The CO at the time suggested that if the regiment was not allowed to wear the kilt, it should be at least allowed to wear a hackle behind the badge in the Balmoral. The King agreed to the suggestion of wearing the hackle on the Balmoral, but suggested that Royal Blue was more appropriate.  Eight hundred hackles were made up and the battalion wore them at Arras for the first time on 11 Feb 1940.     After the Camerons were withdrawn from Dunkirk (still in kilted order and consequently the last battalion to wear the kilt in action) the royal blue hackle was discontinued pending war office approval. It was resumed again in 1951 for use with the Balmoral bonnet.