I think now a days what is worn under the kilt is a matter of personal choice due in part to the influx of women into the military. For example before the pandemic hit Megan Beveridge was the P/M of the Royal Artillery pipe band; she became the first woman in the history of the British army to earn a P/M certificate from the Army School of Piping and Highland Drumming. She also has the distinction of being the lone piper at the Edinburgh Tattoo. There is also a female captain [probably a major now] in the Black Watch, I don't think either of these ladies ask for "proof" when the men fall out kilted. Several years ago a young kilted solider passed out from the heat at I believe a birthday celebration for her majesty the Queen, a gust of wind blew revealing the iconic military boxer shorts. So much for tradition!
The current / recent soldiers and officers I’ve spoken to definitely say there is no formal ruling or enforcement these days – it’s all down to personal preference, albeit with a big dose of ‘tradition’ (even though as this thread demonstrates, that tradition is, at the very least, a lot more nuanced and complex than might be imagined) and plenty of peer pressure / esprit de corps at play. Officer definitely seem to gently encourage it in a lot of cases, but certainly wouldn’t go about sticking mirrors under kilts, or similar these days (You can imagine the scandal if they did!)
Amongst Scotsmen in the regiment, the sense I got was that the great majority do go ‘regimental’, perhaps 80-90%. Amongst non-Scots, probably quite a bit lower, though still relatively high. There didn’t seem to be any expectation amongst female soldiers, interestingly – it seems to be mostly/almost entirely a male thing.
I recall there was a survey done by a polling company a few years ago which suggested the civilian ‘True Scotsman’ figure amongst military-age men was around 40%, so it still seems to be quite a bit higher in the military than elsewhere (perhaps befitting a tradition which, at least in modern incarnation, seems to have a military origin).
Edit:
Link to the data table for the above mentioned poll for those interested:
It’s an intriguing read, though very frustrating that it doesn’t ask more questions while on the topic – I suspect there is almost certainly a huge difference between those owning a kilt and those renting, but it doesn’t ask about that.
Last edited by Regimental; 16th February 22 at 12:06 AM.
(You can imagine the scandal if they did!)
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