Gambia Armed Forces defence and security in The Gambia was the responsibility of the Field Force. The Field Force was a paramilitary unit of the police, consisting of roughly 140 men at independence and rising to around 500 in 1980. It has been formed in 1958 following the disbandment of the Gambia Regiment, part of the British Army. There was little concern about security in The Gambia due to its small size and the safety provided by being totally surrounded by Senegal, with which it had signed a mutual defence pact in 1965. This lax attitude to defence changed following the 1981 coup
Queen of the Gambia Queen of the Gambia Elizabeth II was Queen of The Gambia from 1965 to 1970, when The Gambia was a constitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth of Nations. The Queen was also the monarch of the other Commonwealth realms, including the United Kingdom. Her constitutional roles in The Gambia were delegated to a Governor-General. The Gambia was granted independence in 1965 under the Parliament of the United Kingdom's Gambia Independence Act 1964, which unified the Gambia Colony and Protectorate into an independent sovereign state. After two referenda on constitutional amendments, the first unsuccessful because it did not pass by the necessary