The Irish Guards are looking forward to enjoying some "good craic" in west London as they settle in at Hounslow Cavalry Barracks.
The last companies from the First Battalion Irish Guards arrived at their new home in Beavers Lane, Hounslow West, on Tuesday, June 16.
The regiment, affectionately known as 'The Micks', replaces the Welsh Guards, who left the barracks in December and moved to Surrey after three and a half years in Hounslow.
Captain Richie Sixsmith, unit welfare officer for the Irish Guards, said they were looking forward to getting to know their new neighbourhood, where they will be stationed for at least the next three years.
"We're keen to find out what Hounslow is about, integrating with the community and doing our best while we're here," he told getwestlondon.
"It will be nice to get to know a few people here and three years is long enough for them to get to know us.
"We still have that intrinsic Irish mentality, and there's always good craic with the local population in the communities we move into."
The Irish Guards, who number approximately 650 including their attachments at the barracks in Hounslow, were previously based at Aldershot in Hampshire.
Changing of the Guards
Most of their recruits are still drawn from Northern Ireland and many also come from northern cities like Manchester and Liverpool, which have strong Irish links, but they also have members from across the UK and the Commonwealth.
Their last operational tour as a full battalion was in Helmand, Afghanistan, in 2010/11 but the second company was deployed to the same country again in 2013.
Troops from the battalion were also deployed to Cyprus last year, where they patrolled the buffer zone between the Turkish Cypriots in the north and the Greek Cypriots to the south.
While at Hounslow they will be responsible for protecting the royal palaces, which Captan Sixsmith said was referred to within the Army as "manning the blue line".
That means from early next year you will be able to see them performing the famous Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace.
In 2017, they are due to take part in Trooping the Colour, the popular pageantry marking the Queen's birthday each June.
Their first major event at the barracks in Hounslow, for which they will don their tunics and associated finery, will be the St Patrick's Day celebrations on March 17 next year.
Last year, Prince William, who is Colonel of the Irish Guards, and the Duchess of Cambridge visited them in Aldershot on St Patrick's Day to present them with their traditional shamrocks.
The royal couple also pinned a posy to the regiment's mascot Domhnall, an Irish wolfhound who has his own Twitter account.
