page_title: Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment)
section_title: Formation to end 17th century
hierarchical_section_title: Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment) / History / Formation to end 17th century
caption_attribution_description: This set of images was gathered by User:Dcoetzee from the National Portrait Gallery, London website using a special tool. All images in this batch have been confirmed as author died before 1939 according to the official death date listed by the NPG. See source website for additional information.
context_page_description: The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment), formerly the 3rd Regiment of Foot, was a line infantry regiment of the British Army traditionally raised in the English county of Kent and garrisoned at Canterbury. It had a history dating back to 1572 and was one of the oldest regiments in the British Army, being third in order of precedence. The regiment provided distinguished service over a period of almost four hundred years accumulating one hundred and sixteen battle honours. In 1881, under the Childers Reforms, it was known as the Buffs and later, on 3 June 1935, was renamed the Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment).
  In 1961, it was amalgamated with the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment to form the Queen's Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment, which was later merged, on 31 December 1966, with the Queen's Royal Surrey Regiment, the Royal Sussex Regiment and the Middlesex Regiment to form the Queen's Regiment. This regiment was, in turn, amalgamated with the Royal Hampshire Regiment, in September 1992, to create the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment.
context_section_description: The Dutch fight for independence from Spain in the 1568–1648 Eighty Years' War was supported by Protestants across Europe; the origins of the regiment were Thomas Morgan's Company of Foot, a group of 300 volunteers from the London Trained Bands formed in 1572. In 1586, these English and Scottish volunteer units were brought together in the Anglo-Scots Brigade, which in various formats served in the Dutch military until 1782.
  When the Second Anglo-Dutch War started in 1665, the Brigade's units were ordered to swear loyalty to the Stadtholder and those who disobeyed were cashiered. Using his own funds, Sir George Downing, the English ambassador to the Netherlands, raised the Holland Regiment from the starving remnants of those who refused to sign. In 1665, it was known as the 4th (The Holland Maritime) Regiment and by 1668 as the 4th (The Holland) Regiment. 
  When the Third Anglo-Dutch War began in 1672, the Duke of Buckingham was authorised to recruit an additional eight companies but the two countries made peace in the February 1674 Treaty of Westminster. These men were incorporated into the Anglo-Scots Dutch Brigade and fought in the 1672-1678 Franco-Dutch War; in November 1688, it accompanied William III to England. It was transferred onto the English military establishment as the "4th The Lord High Admiral's Regiment" and in 1689 became the 3rd (Prince George of Denmark's) Regiment of Foot. During the 1689–1697 Nine Years War, it served in the Low Countries, including the battles of Walcourt, Steenkerque and Landen. It returned to England when the war ended with the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick.
caption: Prince George of Denmark, the regiment's patron from 1689–1708
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