Royal Marines
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50 free Royal Marines trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Royal Marines are Britain's commandos and sea soldiers, a corps that has fought from ships and on shore since the 1660s. They sit inside the naval family yet carry a rank system that surprises many people, which is why so many searches about them begin with ranks. This quiz covers the ranks in order, from the newest recruit to the most senior officers and warrant officers, along with the ceremonial titles held by royalty. It also tests the commando course, the badge and its symbols, nicknames, marches, and the raids and battles that made the Corps famous, from the age of sail to the Falklands. It suits serving and former Marines, cadets, applicants preparing for selection, and anyone who enjoys military history. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you learn the story behind each rank and tradition as you play.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which headdress do Royal Marines recruits earn by passing the Commando course at Lympstone?
Green beret
The green beret has marked a commando since October 1942, when the first were issued to the Royal Marines. Before then, a single commando unit could parade in 79 different cap badges.
Q 02Which Royal Marines slang for a long march in full kit became famous in the 1982 Falklands War?
Yomp
Yomp entered everyday English after Royal Marines carried 80 lb loads 56 miles across East Falkland in three days. The Army's word for the same slog is tab.
Q 03Which novelist, then in naval intelligence, proposed 30 Commando, whose title a Royal Marines unit revived in 2010?
Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming wanted a unit to go in with the leading troops and seize codes and documents. He later drew on its commandos when he created James Bond.
Q 04Which fictional hero names the aerial assault course Royal Marines recruits must pass in 13 minutes?
Tarzan
Tarzan lends his name to a ropes-and-ladders course that opens with a zip-line slide and ends with a rope climb up a 30-foot wall. Officers are allowed a minute less.
Q 05Which fortress, captured in 1704, is the only battle honour named on the Royal Marines badge?
Gibraltar
Gibraltar fell after some 1,800 English and allied marines landed on its isthmus, and they then held the Rock through a nine-month siege against a far larger force.
Q 06Which royal was Captain General Royal Marines for 64 years, from 1953 until he retired in 2017?
Prince Philip
Prince Philip is the longest-serving holder of the Corps' ceremonial headship, a title created in 1948 for King George VI. Prince Harry took over when he stepped down.
Q 07Which public facility, named Lympstone Commando, serves the Royal Marines' Commando Training Centre?
Railway station
A railway station on the Avocet Line has served the camp since 1976, and trains stop there only on request. Platform signs still say that anyone getting off must have business with the camp.
Q 08Royal Marines paddled canoes up the Gironde in December 1942 to mine ships in which French port?
Bordeaux
Bordeaux was a vital harbour for the German war effort, and the raiders' limpet mines damaged six ships there. Only two of the ten men who set out survived.
Q 09Which phrase is the English translation of the Royal Marines' Latin motto?
By Sea By Land
By Sea By Land translates Per Mare Per Terram, a motto believed to date from 1775. It describes a corps that fights both aboard the ships of the fleet and ashore.
Q 10Until 1923, which title did the Royal Marine Light Infantry use for the rank now called Marine?
Private
Private vanished from the Corps in 1923, when its two branches merged and every man in the lowest rank became simply a Marine, abbreviated Mne.
Q 11Which Royal Marines rank, just below warrant officer class 2, is named for guarding a battalion's flags?
Colour sergeant
Colour sergeant was created in 1813 to reward long-serving NCOs, who protected the junior officers carrying the flags. Royal Marines address one simply as Colours.
Q 12Which rank, marked by a single chevron, is the lowest non-commissioned officer rank in the Royal Marines?
Lance corporal
Lance corporal is first recorded for the Royal Marines in the official Gazette of 1838. The title is thought to come from an old phrase meaning a broken lance.
Q 13Which appointment, created in 1989, is held by the most senior warrant officer in the Royal Marines?
Q 21Which celebrated general served as a young captain in the Admiral's Regiment, forerunner of the Royal Marines?
John Churchill
John Churchill, later Duke of Marlborough, joined the regiment in 1672, shortly after being present at the sea battle of Solebay. He went on to win at Blenheim.
Q 22Major John Pitcairn of the Marines was killed at which 1775 battle near Boston?
Bunker Hill
Bunker Hill cost Pitcairn his life two months after he had led the advance on Lexington and Concord. His own son, also a marine officer, helped carry him from the field.
Q 23Marines under Major Robert Ross sailed with the First Fleet in 1787 to guard a new colony in which country?
Australia
Corps Regimental Sergeant Major
The Corps Regimental Sergeant Major was introduced to represent warrant officers and senior NCOs at central events, and to advise the head of the Corps whenever asked.
Q 14The Captain General Royal Marines wears the crossed-batons insignia of which rank, unused in the Corps itself?
Field marshal
Field marshal is the Army's highest rank, and its crossed batons in a wreath are worn by the Corps' ceremonial head. Prince Harry sometimes wore the badges of a far more junior officer instead.
Q 1540, 42 and 45 Commando are each normally commanded by a Royal Marines officer of which rank?
Lieutenant colonel
A lieutenant colonel leads each fighting commando, a battalion-sized unit. The badge of rank is a crown above a four-pointed star.
Q 16Until 1999, many Royal Marines officers counted as one rank higher than their Army equals in which setting?
On a warship's books
On a warship's books, a Marine officer came under naval discipline and enjoyed a step up in status. The quirk ended on 1 July 1999, when the Corps' ranks were fully aligned with the Army's.
Q 17Which Royal Marines rank sits directly above colonel and directly below major-general?
Brigadier
Brigadier was only an acting rank in the Royal Marines until 1997, when it became permanent. Unlike a brigadier general elsewhere, it does not count as a general officer rank in Britain.
Q 18General Sir Gwyn Jenkins took which senior post in 2025, one never before held by a Royal Marine?
First Sea Lord
First Sea Lord is the professional head of the whole Royal Navy, the service the Corps belongs to. Jenkins was also only the second Royal Marine full general since 1977.
Q 19Which title, in use since 1943, is held by the professional head of the Royal Marines?
Commandant General
The Commandant General post has been filled at different times by a major general, a lieutenant general and a full general. Before 1943 the Corps' chief was styled the Adjutant-General.
Q 20The Royal Marines began in 1664 as a regiment named for the Duke of York and Albany, later which king?
James II
James II was then the king's brother and head of the Navy, so his 1,200 men were soon known as the Admiral's Regiment. It was disbanded in 1689, shortly after he lost his throne.
Australia's first European settlement was guarded by four companies of marines. By mistake the fleet left Portsmouth without its main supply of ammunition, which was made good at Rio de Janeiro.
Q 24Which shellfish nickname did sailors give the scarlet-coated infantry of the Royal Marines in the 1800s?
Lobsters
Lobsters was a semi-derogatory jibe at the so-called Red Marines, whose scarlet coats matched those worn by the Army's infantry.
Q 25Which branch of Britain's Marines, formed in 1804 and merged away in 1923, was nicknamed the Blue Marines?
Royal Marine Artillery
The Royal Marine Artillery wore the blue of the Army's gunners, whom it replaced aboard bomb vessels after a court ruled that Army officers were not subject to naval orders.
Q 26Which emblem were the Royal Marines granted in 1827 in place of a long list of battle honours?
A globe
A globe was chosen because the Marines had fought in every quarter of the world, in too many actions to list. It probably inspired the globe in the US Marine Corps emblem.
Q 27The laurel wreath on the Royal Marines badge is believed to honour the 1761 capture of which French island?
Belle Île
Belle Île lies off the Brittany coast, and the landing there was the most famous of the many the Marines made around the world in the 18th century.
Q 28Freed slaves formed a Corps of Colonial Marines, led by Royal Marines officers, to fight America in which war?
War of 1812
The War of 1812 saw them fight beside regular Marines at Bladensburg and in the burning of Washington. When the unit was disbanded, its men were resettled as free people in Trinidad.
Q 29A charter of Charles II lets the Royal Marines march in full array, drums beating, through which city?
London
London's Lord Mayor allows the Corps this honour within the City, a right that goes back to a charter Charles II granted to the recruiting parties of its 1664 forerunner.
Q 30The Royal Marines have never raised another 4th Battalion, out of respect for which 1918 raid on a Belgian port?
Zeebrugge
Zeebrugge was attacked on 23 April 1918 from the old cruiser Vindictive, and the battalion's bravery in storming the harbour mole earned it the Victoria Cross.