It bears the “Royal Cypher within the Garter.”
It received its title in 1715 for its conduct at the battle of Preston.
It is not known when its facings were changed to Buff, but it was between 1690 and 1742.
Being mounted on bay horses about 1767 caused it to be called the “Queen’s Bays,” as the other heavy Regiments (except the Scots Greys) had black horses. It is now commonly called “the Bays.”
THIRD DRAGOON GUARDS.
| Titles. | Colour of | Campaigns, Battles, &c. | ||
| Uniform. | Facings. | |||
| Colonel the Earl of Plymouth’s Regiment of Horse. 1685–1687 (Its Colonel’s name.) 1687–1746 3rd Dragoon Guards. 1746–1765 3rd, or Prince of Wales’s Dragoon Guards. 1765—— | Scarlet, 1685—. | Green, 1685–1765. White, 1765, and in 1785. Blue in 1818–1819. Yellow, 1819—. | Steenkirk, 1692. Neer-Landen, 1693. Flanders, 1691–1697. Schellenberg, 1704. Blenheim, 1704. Neer-Hespen, 1705. Ramilies, 1706. Oudenarde, 1708. Malplaquet, 1709. Bouchain, 1711. Germany, 1702–1714. Minden, 1759. Corbach, 1760. | Warbourg, 1760. Wilhelmstahl, 1762. Germany, 1758–1763. Dunkirk, 1793. Cateau, 1794. Tournay, 1794. Flanders, 1793–1795. Talavera, 1809. Albuera, 1811. Vittoria, 1813. Peninsula, 1809–1814. Abyssinia, 1868. |
The Regiment was formed from Independent Troops of Horse raised in various English counties.
It wore cuirasses for three years, and again from 1704 to 1714.
It bears the Plume of the Prince of Wales, the Rising Sun, and the Red Dragon.
It is not known when its facings were changed to Blue.