Military honours for Exeter School alumnae

Congratulations to alumnae Elizabeth Godwin (2013) and Lucy Swiggs (2014) who have both recently commissioned from Sandhurst Military Academy.

Senior Under Officer Elizabeth was awarded the Sword of Honour and commissions into The Household Cavalry Regiment, making history as the first woman to do so since the regiment was formed in 1660. Second Lieutenant Lucy commissions into the 47 Regiment within the Royal Artillery and will be going to Cyprus in July.

Elizabeth follows in the footsteps of Nat Newman (2006 - 2013) who also received the Sword of Honour. She said she was deeply grateful for the military opportunities Exeter School offered her.

“The school has strong military links and provided me with an awareness of the Army Scholarship scheme. The past year at Sandhurst has been extremely enjoyable and challenging, both physically and mentally. It is a particularly unique time to be joining the Army and I very much look forward to the next chapter.”

Lucy said: “Having always been interested in the military and the opportunities it could offer, the CCF at Exeter School enhanced my desire to pursue a career in the army. The school helped me to gain an Army Officer Scholarship at the age of 16 which gave the certainty of a future career post travelling and university. 

“I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Sandhurst and relished the chance to try to new things; these included boxing, organising and running a ski trip in Austria and representing the Academy in Holland for netball and CrossFit.

“Being pushed out of my comfort zone for 44 weeks was challenging but ultimatelyvery rewarding and I would recommend this to anyone considering a career in the army. As a newly commissioned officer in 47 Regiment within the Royal Artillery, I will be deployed to Cyprus in July.”

The parade followed a radically different format to usual to reflect the coronavirus restrictions.

The Commissioning Parade – renamed from the Sovereign’s Parade as there was no representative of Her Majesty The Queen in attendance saw close drill in No.1 uniform swapped for the cadets standing two metres apart and dressed in combats.

The officer cadets conducted their parade before empty grandstands and Royal Military Academy’s staff instead of their family although the event was filmed by an Army news team to enable them to watch it later.