The Gurkha Welfare Trust the Prince of Wales. The Trust has three Vice Patrons; Field Marshal the Lord Bramall of Bushfield KG GCB OBE MC JP DL, Field Marshal Sir John Chapple GCB CBE DL and Joanna Lumley OBE. The Chairman of the Board of Trustees is Lieutenant General Nick Pope CBE. Each year, by tradition, all serving officers and other ranks in the Brigade of Gurkhas contribute a day's pay to the Trust. In 1969, it was realised that a great number of Gurkha soldiers and their dependants or widows in Nepal faced destitution in old age. Many of these soldiers had served
Gurkha British political agent William Fraser were among the first to recognize the potential of Gurkha soldiers in British service. During the war the British were keen to use defectors from the Gurkha army and employ them as irregular forces. His confidence in their loyalty was such that in April 1815 he proposed forming them into a battalion under Lt. Ross called the Nasiri regiment. This regiment, which later became the 1st King George’s Own Gurkha Rifles, saw action at the Malaun fort under the leadership of Lt. Lawtie, who reported to Ochterlony that he "had the greatest reason to be