Meet William Windsor: The Royal Goat

June 30, 2025Goat Journal ContributorKids' Corner, Ownership

If you were to visit Llandudno, a seaside resort town in Wales, you’d see an impressive limestone headland known as the Great Orme. The thumb-shaped section of land is about one mile wide and two miles long. About half of the Great Orme is used for grazing sheep, and portions of the rest are managed as a nature reserve.

Common animals on the Great Orme are goats. But these aren’t ordinary goats. They’re royal Kashmiri goats, whose ancestors once roamed the mountains of Northern India. The present herd on Great Orme is said to be descendants of caprines presented as a gift from Mohammad Shah Qajar, Shah of Persia, to Queen Victoria upon her accession to the throne in 1837. However, Kashmiri goat wool was already starting to make its mark on British wool markets in the early 1800s, and cashmere wool shawls were highly fashionable by the time Victoria took the throne, so Mohammad Shah Qajar’s gifts may have been added to an already existing herd.

Kashmiri goats are magnificent animals with crenulated horns that, in older bucks, can curl back almost to the nape of the neck. Their undercoat is world-famous for its softness and warmth.

A Distinction Worth Mentioning

But in the case of the goats of Great Orme, there’s another distinction worth mentioning: They supply military goats. According to the website Llandudno.com, “3rd Battalion of the Royal Welsh … is one of the infantry of the British Army. The regiment includes a goat, presented by the monarch; this is not a mascot, but a ranking soldier.”

Let that sink in: A goat as a ranking soldier. That’s quite an honor for a caprine, even a caprine from such a noble lineage as the Kashmiri breed.

william-windsor-the-goat — Billy with Churchill, December 1953
Photo of the page of the 14 December 1953 issue of en:Life (magazine) with en:William Windsor (goat) and Winston Churchill.
(LIFE magazine, Time Inc., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons).

According to tradition, the custom of having a goat serving in the military dates back to the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775, when a wild goat is said to have strayed into the battle and led the Royal Welsh Fusiliers’ color party from the field. Another legend says a young Welsh soldier found a baby goat during the Crimean War and kept him as a pet. After tucking the kid into his coat to stay warm, the soldier fell asleep during sentry duty, but was alerted to the enemy’s advance when the kid bleated, giving him time to warn his fellow soldiers and repel the Russian attack.

Since 1833, the British monarchy began the tradition of presenting Kashmiri goats from the Crown’s royal herd to the Royal Welch Fusiliers, the line infantry regiment of the British Army.

The Drum-Major and Goat of the 1st Battalion the Welch Regiment, 1896, photograph taken by W.M. Crockett, Plymouth (public domain via Wikimedia Commons).

Out of this regal heritage, meet William Windsor. This magnificent animal, though descended from the same royal bloodlines as the Great Orme herd, was actually born in the Whipsnade Zoo in 2000. Queen Elizabeth II presented William (“Billy”) to the regiment in 2001.

NOT a Mascot

The BBC makes it clear William was “not a mascot, but a ranking member of the regiment.” He served both domestically and abroad. His primary duty was to perform in ceremonial duties by marching at the head of the battalion in every parade in which the regiment participated, under the supervision of a “goat major.”

But as noble and dignified as William Windsor was, he was still a goat. As such, once in a while, his behavior was not up to royal standards. When he was 6 years old, William Windsor was on his first overseas posting at the Episkopi base in Cyprus when he suffered a “lack of decorum.” In addition to disobeying a direct order, he exhibited “unacceptable” behavior during a ceremonial parade to mark the Queen’s 80^th birthday. William not only refused to stay in line, but he also tried to headbutt a drummer, despite the best efforts of the goat major (his full-time carer).

Such actions, of course, are unbecoming of a soldier, and William was forced to attend a disciplinary hearing, where he was demoted to fusilier, a low-ranking infantry soldier.

Despite his caprine antics, William was “extremely well-known” on Cyprus (where he was posted for two and a half years) and highly liked.

Partly for this reason — and partly because William “had all summer to reflect on his behavior at the Queen’s birthday” — the goat was reinstated to his former rank during another ceremonial event at the same parade ground. It should be noted that William “performed exceptionally well” during this event and “clearly earned the rank he deserves.”

Well-Earned Retirement

William otherwise served with distinction for eight years in the 1st Battalion of the Royal Welsh. In May 2009, he retired from his position due to age. He received a glorious send-off of pomp and ceremony at the regiment’s base in Chester. William wore full ceremonial dress, including a silver headdress which was a gift from the Queen in 1955. Cheering comrades lined the route from his pen to the trailer waiting to take him to the zoo.

Guard Walking with Billy
L/Cpl Dai Davies and Fus. William “Billy” Windsor approaching East Gate (by Eric Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons).

Yes, William retired to the Whipsnade Zoo where he was born. He was housed at the Children’s Farm — where, it should be noted, several Kashmiri goat ladies took an immediate interest in his regal presence.

Anna McConachie, press officer at the Whipsnade Zoo, noted: “He had a happy retirement and settled in well with the other goats. Keepers remember him fondly as an impressive male with large horns, who was very loved by the regiment. When he came back to Whipsnade to retire, he was accompanied by his very smart white leather head collar, which he would’ve worn during his time in the army.”

William’s military service marks a cultural legacy that highlighted the whimsical yet vital role animals can play in military history. He’s not the first caprine to serve in the military, and certainly won’t be the last.

PATRICE LEWIS is a wife, mother, homesteader, homeschooler, author, blogger, columnist, and speaker. An advocate of simple living and self-sufficiency, she has practiced and written about self-reliance and preparedness for almost 30 years. She is experienced in homestead animal husbandry and smallscale dairy production, food preservation and canning, country relocation, home-based businesses, homeschooling, personal money management, and food self-sufficiency. Follow her website at patricelewis.com or blog at rural-revolution.com.

Sources

Originally published in the July 1, 2025 digital issue of Goat Journal

Kids' Corner, Ownership

Meet William Windsor: The Royal Goat

A Distinction Worth Mentioning

NOT a Mascot

Well-Earned Retirement

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