The Yeomanry was always keen to provide escort duties in the county, and offered to meet Prince Albert on his trip through Kent up to London to meet Queen Victoria in 1840. They received a gracious letter in response:
“Although Her Majesty is duly sensible of the feeling of attachment by which the offers have been dictated, she is unwilling, from the uncertainty as to the precise period of His Serene Highness’s arrival in this country, to expose her loyal subjects to the inconvenience of uncertain attendance due to the present bad state of the weather”
In 1855 the East Kent Yeomanry did get to provide a guard of honour for Her Majesty’s visit to Folkestone. For this and other escort duties the EKY earned the title “Royal” and the WKY earned the title “The Queen’s Own”
Finally, in 1888 HRH The Duke of Cambridge inspected the regiments in Mote Park. – a grand occasion as can be seen in the painting opposite.