By the end of the 17th century in Great Britain, the "colonel of a regiment" was often a titled person who had been given royal permission to raise it for service and command it in battle.

[4] Until the late 18th century most British regiments were commonly known by the name of the colonelcy, for example Lord Churchill's Dragoons (1683–1685) or Elliot's Light Horse (1759–66).

[4] By the beginning of the Napoleonic Wars, the title "colonel of the regiment" had become a sinecure appointment for distinguished generals and members of the royal family or British nobility.

By the end of the 19th century, the reorganisation of the British Army through the Cardwell and Childers Reforms had established a colonel as a professional rank with senior administrative responsibilities in regiment or brigade.

The position is usually held by a member of the Royal Family who acts as a patron to the unit, as Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, did for the Bermuda Regiment.

[8] The Royal Navy once conveyed the honorific title "Colonel of Marines" to post-captains as a reward for highly distinguished service.

When badges of rank were introduced for field officers in 1810, full colonels were designated with a crown and star worn on shoulder epaulettes.

Thereafter full colonels wore half-inch regimental pattern laces on upper and lower collar, with one crown and one star.

The pattern of a crown above two stars has remained the identifying insignia from 1880 to the present day although it has variously been worn on the shoulder, cuff and chest.

During World War I, colonels wore the following cuff badges: The insignia is two diamond-shaped pips (properly called "Bath Stars") below a crown.

Gorget patches, colloquially known as red tabs, with crimson lace and a brass button are also worn by officers of the substantive rank of colonel as part of their general staff uniform.