Irish Guards lay up Colours in St Mark’s, Dundela
St Mark’s, Dundela hosted the Laying Up of Colours for the Irish Regiment of Foot Guards – best known as the Irish Guards – on Sunday afternoon, 7 September 2025, as part of celebrations for the regiment’s 125th anniversary.
The special banners are the ninth set of Colours of the 1st Battalion, which were presented by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, on 6 May 2009 at Windsor Castle, and the service marked the first time that the Colours have been laid up in a church on the island of Ireland. The Guards were founded by Queen Victoria in April 1900 to honour the gallantry of Irish soldiers in the Second Boer War. Their battle honours commemorate over a century of service and courage.
Royal foreword
Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales, in her role as Colonel of the Regiment, wrote a foreword for the service, noting that as the Colours are “laid to rest in this sacred and historic church, they form a lasting testament to the Regiment’s proud traditions and enduring legacy.” Princess Catherine thanked the clergy and congregation of St Mark’s for welcoming the Colours “with such grace and respect” and added that their presence “will stand as a lasting tribute to the Regiment’s history and its strong connection to the communities of Northern Ireland.”
Guests included His Majesty’s Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Belfast, Professor Alastair Adair CBE DL; His Grace The Duke of Abercorn and his brother, Lord Anthony Hamilton; Deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengelly MLA; Major General Sir Christopher Ghika, as Regimental Lieutenant Colonel; Lieutenant Colonel Ben Irwin–Clark, the Irish Guards’ Commanding Officer; and Regimental Adjutant Major Niall Hall.
Remembrance with gratitude
In her greeting and welcome, the Rector of St Mark’s – the Revd Canon Dr Helene Steed – recalled the service of members of the parish in the regiment “with four men giving their lives during the First and Second World Wars.” The Colour Party advanced to the Chancel steps while the Regimental Slow March Let Erin Remember was played. Prayers in the ceremony were read by Fr David Burke, Chaplain to the 1st Battalion, Irish Guards, and Canon Dr Steed.
An Act of Remembrance was led by the ‘Mini–Micks’ cadets with a reading of a message of gratitude for the many who have died in service, silence and the lighting of a candle.
The hymns were Be Thou My Vision; I vow to thee, my country; the Lord’s my Shepherd I’ll not want; Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us; Thine be the glory, risen, conquering Son; and the National Anthem. Bob Chilcott’s Irish Blessing was sung by St Mark’s Open Choir.
‘If Colours could talk …’
Canon Dr Steed preached from Ecclesiastes 3:1–18 read by Mr Frank Dillon, a glebe warden in St Mark’s, who father, Sergeant Vincent Dillon from County Tyrone, served in the Irish Guards from 1943 to 1949, and Romans 8:35–39, read by Lt Col Irwin–Clark.
“This afternoon I would like to change the idiom ‘if walls could talk’ to ‘if Colours could talk’,” she remarked. “This is an evocative, bittersweet phrase. ‘If Colours could talk’. They tell the story of the Irish Guards, of battle honours which record places where the regiment has served. These Colours embrace stories of camaraderie and friendship, of jovial experiences and laughter. But there is more to them. These Colours hold deep significance as they symbolise courage, sacrifice, and service to regiment.”
Noting the motto of the regiments – Quis Separabit? Who can separate us? – she continued: “God is part of our story, which may at times be filled with pain and suffering. Still, we are not alone. Never alone. God is lovingly present, and ‘in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. … Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.’”
St Paul, she noted, speaks in plural: “We. Us. Not me or my. The collective, the regiment, the church, the community is at the centre. No man, no woman is an island, entirely of itself. People are brought together.”
The rector concluded: “This afternoon a new story begins that of the Irish Guards having a spiritual home on the island of Ireland in this church in which their Ninth set of Colours are laid up. Together we are writing this story, knowing that God Almighty is part of it.
“Quis Separabit? Who can separate us? No one.”
Canon Dr Steed’s sermon is available in full here.
Prayers were led by three military chaplains – the Revd Canon Andrew Totten, Fr Paschal Hanrahan, and Fr David Burke. Parades, including the Standards of Royal British Legion branches from around Ireland, took place through East Belfast immediately before and after the service, and were cheered by many well–wishers.