| 2nd Dragoon Guards (The Queen's Bays) | |
|---|---|
&sq=&lang=&file=File:Queen%27s_Bays_Cap_Badge.jpg){kind=icon} 2nd Dragoon Guards (The Queen's Bays) | |
| Active | 1685–1959 |
| Country |  Kingdom of England (1685–1707) Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800) United Kingdom (1801–1959) |
| Branch |  British Army |
| Type | Cavalry |
| Size | Regiment |
| Part of | Royal Armoured Corps |
| Nickname(s) | The Bays Rusty Buckles[1] |
| Motto(s) | Pro rege et patria (Latin "for King & Country") |
| March | Quick – Rusty Buckles Slow – The Queen's Bays |
The 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) was a cavalry regiment of the British Army. It was first raised in 1685 by the Earl of Peterborough as the Earl of Peterborough's Regiment of Horse by merging four existing troops of horse.
Renamed several times, it was designated the Queen's Regiment of Dragoon Guards in 1746 as it evolved into a dragoon unit (dragoons described a force of highly mobile mounted infantry equipped with lighter, faster horses and carrying firearms) and later named the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays) in 1767 to reflect the custom of its soldiers riding only bay horses.
The regiment served as horse cavalry until 1937, when it was mechanised with light tanks. The regiment became part of the Royal Armoured Corps in 1939. After service in the First and Second World Wars, the regiment amalgamated with the 1st King's Dragoon Guards in 1959 to form the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards.
- ^ Burnham, Robert; McGuigan, Ron (2010). The British Army against Napoleon. Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Frontline Books. p. 122. ISBN 978-1-84832-562-3.