Troops from three battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment today held a final parade in Belfast following their disbandment as part of the British Army's demilitarisation programme.
Around 300 Home Service soldiers drawn from the Holywood-based 2nd Battalion, the Armagh-based 3rd Battalion, and the Omagh-based 4th Battalion paraded before Queen Elizabeth II on the outdoors arena at the Balmoral Showground.
The three battalions are being disbanded next year after 36 years of continuous operational duty in Northern Ireland.
Several thousand members of the regiment attended the ceremony in the south of the city. Some 9,000 spectators are also in attendance.
The RIR was formed by the merger of the Royal Irish Rangers and Ulster Defence Regiment.
The British army announced last May the number of British military personnel stationed in the North will be reduced to around 5,000 by next year. In August last year there were 10,000 troops in the North, while at the height of the Troubles in 1972 there were almost 27,000.
More than 60,000 men and women have served either full-time or part-time in the RIR and the UDR since 1970. The UDR was implicated in a number of scandals claiming collusion with loyalist paramilitaries in the murder of Catholics.
Official documents revealed earlier this year showed the British government as far back as the early 1970s was informed of widespread collusion between the UDR and loyalists.
The 3,000 full-time and part-time members of the RIR will receive overall redundancy payments of up to £151,000 (€220,000) each when the force is disbanded.
The queen was accompanied by her son the Duke of York.