Goat retires from Royal Welsh Regiment
Lance Corporal William Windsor, more fondly known as Billy the Goat, has retired from the Royal Welsh Regiment.
Lance Corporal William Windsor, more fondly known as Billy the Goat, has retired from the Royal Welsh Regiment. According to the United Kingdom Telegraph, the nine-year-old goat has led the Battalion on all ceremonial duties for the past seven years. His successor is a kid from a good herd from North Wales.
Billy, who was honored with a retirement parade last week, has been cared for by a full-time Goat Major. He retires to Whipsnade Zoo. Billy was clad in ceremonial dress for the occasion.
The Telegraph reports that Billy’s service was part of a 200-year tradition that started during the American War of Independence when a wild goat rambled onto the battlefield. The goat was still standing at the end of the fighting.
In 1884 Queen Victoria presented the regiment with a goat from the Royal herd, thus starting the tradition.
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