Who are ‘the Micks’, the British regiment at the heart of a social media storm?

On BBC television on Thursday, the term “the Micks” was used to describe the Irish Guards regiment in the British army. Perhaps understandably, there was a swift reaction, with many people on social media appalled at commentators’ use of the term. The broadcaster was televising the Irish Guards’ “trooping” of their new colours outside Buckingham Palace as part of Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee.

While “Paddy” and “Mick” are often deemed racial slurs, and while it’s important to use sensitive language in Anglo-Irish relations, some context might help here. As some pointed out, there is a 120-year history to the term (others said historical usage is no excuse for using an offensive word). The Irish Guards, a part of the British army since 1900, have been known as “the Micks” for generations and have themselves appropriate the name for their regiment.

During the ceremony, the co-commentator Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, who served in the Irish Guards, remarked that his erstwhile regiment – “the Micks” – was one of the best in the world. They combined, he suggested, the “fantastic mix of guard’s discipline and pursuit of excellence with their Irish irrational tenth, if I can quote Lawrence of Arabia”.

An Englishman using the words “Irish” and “irrational” in the same sentence clearly grated with some viewers. But that term too has military origins. The “irrational tenth” is the belief in military circles that battles are 90 per cent tactics and 10 per cent an irrational combination of leadership, morale and training unique to each fighting unit. What sounded like an insult was meant as a compliment.

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The realisation that the Irish Guards were known as “the Micks” seemed to have been news to BBC presenter and commentator Huw Edwards, too, who wondered if it was “not an altogether nice term”.

Edwards and those on social media seemed unaware that just five days prior to the jubilee events, Prince William, the regiment’s colonel-in-chief, said he was proud to be associated with the “indomitable family spirit of the Micks”.

When the prince wore the Irish Guards regimental uniform on his marriage in 2011, its adjutant, Lt Col Brian O’Gorman, said the regiment was “surprised but delighted and very proud that Prince William ... decided to wear the ‘Mick’ uniform”.

The Irish Guards survived a cull of Irish regiments in the British army 100 years ago this month. It was founded as an elite regiment in the British army and remains one to this day. It attracts recruits from both sides of the Irish Border, those with Irish ancestry and increasingly those with none at all.

It retains in its repertoire Irish standards such as “Spancil Hill” and “MacNamara’s Band” and the “Cliffs of Dooneen”. The regiment even has an associated GAA club (Gardaí Éireannach or Naomh Padraig) in London, affiliated to London’s GAA and also known as “the Micks”.