British Armed Forces
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The British Armed Forces are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, support international peacekeeping efforts and provide humanitarian aid.
A modern reproduction of an 1805 poster commemorating the Battle of Trafalgar
Soldiers from the Royal Irish Rifles in the Battle of the Somme's trenches 1916
British commandos during the Second World War
The Vulcan Bomber was the mainstay of Britain's airborne nuclear capability for much of the Cold War.
Head of the Armed Forces
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Head of the Armed Forces is the position of the sovereign of the United Kingdom as commander-in-chief of the British Armed Forces. However, supreme military authority has been delegated by the monarch to the Defence Council of the United Kingdom, a body officially charged with the direction and administration of the Armed Forces.
Elizabeth II in military uniform
King George II at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743, by John Wootton. It remains the last time a British monarch personally led his troops into battle.
King George V inspecting the British 29th Division prior to the division's departure for Gallipoli in 1915. The division commander, Major General Aylmer Hunter-Weston, rides alongside the King at the right of the photo.