1712
In the early part of April, 1712, the regiment once more took the field, and on the 19th of that month pitched its tents near Tournay, where the Duke of Ormond arrived on the 9th of May, and took command of the army, the Duke of Marlborough having, for a political cause, been removed from his military appointments.
On the 19th of May the army advanced, and on the 21st encamped on the hills of St. Denis, near Bouchain; thence proceeding across the Scheldt, arrived a few days afterwards near the frontiers of France; and the two grenadier companies of the Royal Regiment, forming part of a reconnoitring party, advanced a few miles into Picardy.
The siege of Quesnoy was afterwards undertaken, and the Royal Regiment, forming part of the covering army, was encamped at Cateau-Cambresis; but was not engaged in any act of direct hostility. The garrison surrendered on the 4th of July; and soon afterwards the Duke of Ormond having received orders to proclaim a suspension of arms between the British and French, preparatory to a general treaty of peace, the British troops retreated from the frontiers of France to Ghent.
The French monarch having agreed to deliver the city of Dunkirk into the hands of the British as a pledge of his sincerity in the negociations for peace, it was taken possession of by six battalions from England; and on the 4th of August, the Royals, with four other British regiments, twenty pieces of cannon, and four mortars, under the command of Lieut.-General the Earl of Orkney, marched from the camp near Ghent to Dunkirk, where they arrived on the 6th, and the regiment remained in garrison in this city nearly two years.
1713
1714
A treaty of peace having been concluded at Utrecht, the British troops were ordered to return from Flanders. Several regiments embarked in the spring of 1714; the Royals marched from Dunkirk, in May, to Nieuport, where they remained until after the decease of Queen Anne and the accession of King George I., which occurred on the 1st of August, 1714. The first battalion embarked a few days after this event, and landed—seven companies at Dover, and five at Greenwich and Deptford—on the 15th of August; and the second battalion landed at Gravesend and the borough of Southwark on the 22nd of that month. Both battalions assembled in the vicinity of London, and having been reviewed by the Duke of Ormond, afterwards proceeded into garrison at Portsmouth and Plymouth.[92] At the same time a reduction of four companies took place, and the establishment of each battalion was fixed at 10 companies, of 3 officers, 2 serjeants, 2 corporals, 1 drummer, and 36 private men each[93].
1715
After the arrival of King George I. from Hanover, the Protestant succession to the throne appearing to be peacefully established, the Royals were ordered to proceed to Ireland, where the presence of a considerable military force was deemed necessary to restrain the Roman Catholics from taking arms in favour of the Pretender. The regiment was accordingly relieved from garrison duty at Portsmouth and Plymouth by the Third Foot Guards, in March, 1715, and proceeded to Chester, where both battalions embarked for Dublin.