The Royal Dragoons
The oldest Line Cavalry regiment in the British Army, the Royal Dragoons were amalgamated into the Household Cavalry in 1969 after 300 years and now form part of The Blues and Royals.
At Sedgemoor in 1685 the Regiment, under its Commanding Officer, John Churchill, [later the great Duke of Marlborough] they were instrumental in defeating the bold attempt by the Duke of Monmouth to surprise the Royal Army at night. From 1689 to 1691 the Royals were serve in Ireland.
Our reconstructed Royal Dragoons perform both mounted and dismounted displays using muskets, plug bayonets, and on occasion, primitive hand grenades!
Royal Dragoons 1685 at Canter -video
Scots Greys
Dundee’s Jacobite Cavalry
When King James fled England in 1688 his cause was upheld in Scotland by John Graham of Claverhouse, better known as “Bonnie Dundee”.
At his glorious but fatal victory at Killicrankie in July 1689, he was accompanied by a small Troop of Scots Gentlemen and their retainers. As they charged the remaining Government Redcoats, Claverhouse was shot at their head.
Though Killicrankie was a decisive Jacobite victory, the campaign was to fail without Bonnie Dundee’s charismatic leadership.
The Kings Lifeguards
The dandies of the Stuart armies, these Private Gentlemen were the ancestors of todays Household Cavalry Lifeguards whose service to Crown spans over 350 years.
Armed with sword, flintlock pistol and carbine the Gentlemen are a striking sight in scarlet coats, honouring those Cavaliers who had followed Charles II in exile, experiencing the Restoration and the reign of “The Merry Monarch”.
In due course many were to stay loyal to their Oath and follow Charles’s brother James to Ireland, where they were to serve under that most gallant of Lifeguards officers Patrick Sarsfield, first Lord Lucan and leader of The Wild Geese in exile.
Monmouth’s Lifeguard of Horse
Charles II’s favourite natural son James Scott, Duke of Monmouth led a Rebellion in the West Country in 1685.
His Escort throughout this doomed campaign comprised a “Lifeguard of Gentlemen”, not uniformed, but well equipped with armour and weapons bought from Holland.