Chatsworth Country Fair

The Prince of Wales's Division Band

Friday 1200, 1515, & 1730: Saturday 1200, 1545 & 1800
and Sunday 1200, 1545 & 1815

The Band appears by kind permission of the Colonel Commandant, The Prince of Wales’s Division, Major General CGS Hughes CBE, late The Staffordshire Regiment.

The Band of The Prince of Wales’s Division (The Mercian Regiment and The Royal Welsh) was formed on the 22nd of May 2006 and is based in Lucknow Barracks, Tidworth. It is the successor to The Band of The Prince of Wales’s Division (Clive) which was based in Clive Barracks, Ternhill and The Band of The Prince of Wales’s Division (Lucknow) which was based in Tidworth. The primary role of the band is to provide musical support to the Army and the Regiments of the Prince of Wales’s Division.

Since its formation, the Band of the Prince of Wales’s Division has performed at numerous military engagements including the formation parades of The Mercian Regiment and The Royal Welsh, St David’s Day 2007 in the presence of the HM The Queen, Colonel-in-Chief R Welsh, at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff and also at Clarence House in the presence of the HRH The Prince of Wales, Colonel-in-Chief Mercian. The Band has also played at homecoming and medals parades for the battalions of the Mercian Regiment and The Royal Welsh who have been deployed recently in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Other high profile engagements have included The Queen’s Birthday celebrations in Dubai and performing to an audience of over 80,000 at the FA Cup Final at Wembley in May this year. The Band has also performed at a number of fundraising concerts and events raising money for a number of worthy causes both at home and abroad.

The Band of The Prince of Wales’s Division (The Mercian Regiment and The Royal Welsh) is proud to continue the many musical traditions developed over the 300 years of British military music and is also broadening its appeal through its musical diversity. From within its number, the Band is also able to provide a number of smaller ensembles including a Swing Band, Pop Group, Jazz Combo and the only Welsh Male Voice Choir in the Corps of Army Music. With such a variety of ensembles and musical styles, The Band of The Prince of Wales’s Division remains a proud, colourful and versatile ambassador for its two fine Regiments from within the Corps of Army Music.

The Director of Music is Captain Sean Riley who began his Army career in 1987 as a French Horn player at the Army Junior School of Music, Dorset. The Bandmaster is WO1 Taylor-Smith who joined the Army in 1999 as Principal French Horn player with the Grenadier Guards Band, having previously served with the RAF in the Cranwell Band.

We are honoured and delighted to welcome the Band of the Prince of Wales’s Division to Chatsworth for the first time.

The Band's website can be found here