Head-dress, Lance cap of black leather with upper part and top of scarlet cloth. Green plume.
Forage cap, Blue, with scarlet band.
Linked Regiment, 12th (Prince of Wales's Royal) Lancers.
Special arm badge for Sergeants, Harp and Crown.
5th (Royal Irish) LANCERS
Raised as the "Royal Irish Dragoons" in 1689, and in 1858 became "The 5th (Royal Irish) Lancers." In recognition of the prominent part it took in Marlborough's campaigns, and particularly of its distinguished conduct at Blenheim, Marlborough directed that the captured kettledrums should be borne at the head of the regiment, and that the establishment should be nine troops. At Ramillies, with the Royal Scots Greys, it cut off two battalions of the Grenadiers of Picardie, and almost annihilated a third battalion before a body of French horse galloped to the rescue. To this the regiment owed the privilege it formerly enjoyed of wearing Grenadier caps like the Royal Scots Greys.
Nicknames: At one time called "The Daily Advertisers." More popularly known as "The Redbreasts" or "Irish Lancers."
The Coldstreamers first meeting with the Monarch.
