An RSPCA animal rescuer and Army reservist marched alongside 5,000 military personnel at King Charles III’s Coronation procession on Saturday 6 May.
Private Charlotte Billington has worked as an animal welfare officer for the RSPCA Mid Norfolk and North Suffolk Branch for the last five years – where she rescues and transports animals in need.
But Charlotte also serves as a reservist in 101 Military Working Dog (MWD) Squadron, 1st Military Working Dog Regiment. In that role, she joined service personnel from all three services, as they escorted Their Majesties from the Coronation service at Westminster Abbey back to Buckingham Palace.
Charlotte joined the Army reserve in April 2021, and said: “I joined to become part of a large family/friend/community network, to of course serve my country and to gain more life experience, skills, and knowledge in the dog handler sector specifically.”
The RSPCA Mid Norfolk and North Suffolk Branch is a signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant – which pledges their understanding that those who serve or who have served in the armed forces, and their families, should be treated with fairness and respect in the communities, economy and society they serve with their lives.
Anna Fehr-Foote, head of shared services at the Branch, added: “Everyone at the Branch is so, so proud of Charlotte – and this is such a well deserved honour for her.”
“The RSPCA Mid Norfolk and North Suffolk Branch is a proud signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant, and to see one of our own marching alongside thousands of other brave service personnel at such an historic occasion is just absolutely fantastic.”
101 MWD Squadron is a nationally recruited Army Reserve squadron based at St George’s Barracks, North Luffenham. It forms part of 1st Military Working Dog Regiment (Royal Army Veterinary Corps) providing the only deployable military working dog and veterinary capability within the whole of the British Army.
Reserves joining the squadron are trained initially as Patrol Military Working Dog Handlers (MWDH). Patrol MWDs are primarily a Force Protection asset, providing commanders with a high-profile visual deterrent that can detect, pursue, and detain an intruder with sub-lethal force, looking after the security and safety of military assets and their operating bases.
