When James II, to cope with Monmouth's rebellion, increased the army to 15,000 men by the addition of new regiments, among them was "the Queen's Regiment of Horse", so called to distinguish it from "the King's Regiment of Horse", which afterwards became the Horse Guards Blue.

The "Queen's" first saw fighting at Sedgemoor, and was one of the regiments that were sent in pursuit of the Duke of Schomberg's battalion, which had declared for the exiled King James, and with four guns was marching to Scotland.  It was this mutiny that led to the introduction of the Mutiny Act, in which Parliament first recognised the necessity for a code of law distinct from that carried out in Civil Courts.  The accession of the Prince of Orange to the throne was by no means received with universal approbation.  In Scotland there were risings under Graham of Claverhouse, and in the suppression of the abortive insurrection the Queen's Regiment shared.  Even more serious was the resistance to the new dynasty which was displayed in Ireland, and of which the battle of the Boyne was the principal contest, and the regiment took a prominent share in the operations which culminated in the siege of Limerick.  It had early earned the name of a "brave and valorous corps".

The death of James II, and the recognition of his son as James III by the Courts of France and Spain, led to the prolonged war in which Marlborough occupies the principal place.  Like most of the early Dragoon Regiments, this was present in that magnificent charge at Belnheim which cut the French army in two, and led to the drowning of 4000 men in the Danube; and it also shared in the glories of Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet.  During the whole of the campaign armour was worn, and in 1714, on the accession of George I, the regiment received the title of the "King's Own Regiment of Horse", and the colour of the facings was changed from yellow to blue".  It was during this reign that the purchase of commissions by officers was authoritatively permitted according to a fixed scale, which ranged from ?7,000 for the colonel and captain (the commanding officer received pay for the two duties) to ?1,000 for the cornet.  The adjutancy seems to have been little appreciated, as it is only priced at ?200.

The "King's Own" suffered severely at Dettingen and Fontenoy.  The equipment and duties of the whole of the cavalry had so far assimilated, that in 1746 three regiments of Horse were converted into Dragoons, with the additional title of "Guards", and precedence over all other regiments of Dragoons, as a compensation for the reduction of their pay to that of the last named troops.  Thus the "King's Own" became the 1st Dragoon Guards.  It was specified in the warrant authorising the change that they should "roll and do duty in our army, or upon detachments, with our other forces, as Dragoons, in the same manner as if the word 'Guards' was not inserted in their respective titles".  As in the Infantry there was a tendency to use light and grenadier companies on the flanks of the battalion, so, too, about this time, "light troops" were added to the cavalry.  Many minor alterations were made from time to time, as the idea of their being mounted infantry died away.  Thus the heavy muskets and brace of large heavy pistols were replaced by a lighter carbine and a single pistol; trumpeters replaced drummers; veterinary surgeons were added to the staff; the standard was for the first time definitely fixed at 5ft 8in, and the light troops of the 1st Dragoon Guards and of three other regiments were formed into a separate body, then called the 19th Light Dragoons.  A curious custom was in force at the end of the last century, by which rewards were paid for captured stores, at the rate of ?20 per gun, ?10 per pair of colours or a tumbril, and ?12 for a horse.  The regiment must have been successful as well as gallant in the sharp affair of Cateau, in 1794, for it received ?500 for its spoil, and was in addition mentioned (with two other regiments) as having "acquired immortal honour".  Pay and praise ran together in this instance.

In 1810 they shared with the Life Guards the duty of "gold stick in waiting", an honour at that time not even extended to the Horse Guards Blue.  With these regiments it formed Lord Edward Somerset's brigade at Waterloo.  Then the men were dressed in red short tailed coats, and wore helmets of leather brass-mounted and with a long black horse hair crest.  It charged the French Cuirassiers in the brigade composed of the Life and Horse Guards, a Light Cavalry brigade, and an Infantry column, as well as joining in the final advance of Wellington's line.  During the action itself the Duke came to the brigade, and praised the conduct of the men.  The heavy loss of eleven officers and two hundred and fifty two men killed and wounded, shows that they had charged home, and well merited the mention in despatches that they had "highly distinguished themselves".  Their tangible reward was a silver medal to every officer and man, the permission to bear "Waterloo" on their standards, and the men were allowed to count two years towards an increase in pension.

To one of the colonels is due one of the earliest official drill books.  Sir David Dundas was an enthusiastic admirer of all that was Prussian, and after attending the summer manoeuvres in Germany, produced the "Regulations for the Field Exercises and Movements of the Cavalry".  The old time battles of Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, Malplaquet, and Dettingen, are numbered among the regimental distinctions.  In China, with fane and Probyn's "Horse", it formed the cavalry brigade, and at Kaowle and Chang-chai-wan brilliantly dispersed the huge masses of Tartar cavalry, and conduced to the rapid advance on the capital which terminated the campaign, and led to the addition of "Pekin" and "Taku Forts" to the previous list of honours.  Lastly, the title "South Africa  1879" was added for their services in that campaign; and while one troop was present at the fight at Ulundi, it was one of its squadrons that, with some mounted inantry and natives, was despatched for the capture of Cetchwayo, who surrendered to Major Marter of the King's Dragoon Guards.  There was even then a dignity in the fallen monarch's attitude; for when he came out from the Kwa Dasa kraal, and a dragoon advanced to seize him, "White soldier", he said, "touch me not; I surrender to your chief!"  Later on they garrisoned the Transvaal, and were stationed at Pretoria, Wakkerstrom, and Heidelberg, at the outbreak of active hostilities with the Boer Government.  The regimental badge is the royal cypher within the garter; the facings blue.

Extract from "The British Army and Auxiliary Forces" Colonel C. Cooper King, R.M.A. , 1894

JOHN DOOGAN  (Private)  (Late) 1^st Dragoon Guards            On January 28^th 1881, at the action of Laing?s Nek, Major Brownlow was dismounted during a charge, owing to his horse being shot.  Doogan who was the Major?s servant, seeing the precarious position of his master, rode to his assistance, and though himself severely wounded, sprang from his horse to induce him to accept his mount, receiving another wound while engaged in this gallant act.

Officers, King's Own Regiment, in India, 1897.

From left to right: 1st Dragoon Guards, 2nd Life Guards, 3rd Dragoon Guards.